Nobody Died
by Xanrivash
Summary: Everyone in Port Royal had gathered to see a Nobody die, but as it turned out, nobody died. A last second rescue leads to a quest for revenge, which makes another rescue necessary, and there's a surprising discovery...Demyx hates Christmas?
1. So Wrong So Fast

_I don't understand how it went so wrong so fast..._

A cart rattled its way through the rutted, filthy streets of Port Royal.

_It was just the four of us getting away for a few drinks like we did sometimes..._

Its cargo - a prisoner, bound for the gallows.

_Maybe it started to fall apart when the fight began. Whenever Luxord hauls us to Port Royal, whatever tavern we end up in, there's always a fight, though most of the time we're not involved._

A condemned man on the wagon could always expect a certain amount of abuse from bystanders - thrown insults, eggs, rotten fruits and vegetables.

_Just - when Axel's had a few drinks, he can't keep himself out of a fight. Comes with being a fiery redhead and all, I guess. Normally all that happens is he collects a few bruises and we laugh at him when he sobers up, but this time...this time someone pulled a knife on him._

They weren't just throwing produce at this man - they were throwing sticks, bricks, and rocks. One well-aimed stone bounced off his forehead, leaving a bloody trail. It was just as well he couldn't hear the insults they were throwing at him too.

_He'd have been stabbed in the back if Xigbar hadn't seen the blade. And - I guess you can't really blame him - he shot the guy. The fight ended with soldiers charging in, and Luxord yelling at us to run for it. Or maybe that was me. I wouldn't be shocked if it was; it's the kind of thing I'd do._

"Demon." "Heartless bastard." "Inhuman creature." "Abomination." "Monster." "Nobody."

_I was the only one they caught. Since I obviously didn't have a gun on me, I wasn't expecting more than the sort of treatment they give ordinary troublemakers. Right up until someone found out I don't have a heart._

As the cart arrived at its destination and the prisoner was led away, he had to be surrounded by guards to keep the enraged crowd away from him. "Mama, he doesn't look evil, he looks sad," said a little child. His mother promptly smacked him and began lecturing him about the evil creatures called Nobodies - those heartless beasts in human form.

_The first thing they did was smash my hearing aids - they had no idea what they were for. That kind of didn't help when they tried questioning me - they didn't know I'm deaf, and whenever I didn't understand what they were asking, which was every time they asked me anything, they just hit me and probably yelled louder. They broke at least three teeth that first night. I'll never know what they wanted to know; the light was so bad I couldn't read their lips at all - probably asking where the other three were. If I knew that was what they were asking, I wouldn't have told them anyway... _

The near-total lack of emotion on the condemned man's face only riled the assembled crowd further. So it was true that Nobodies couldn't feel, they said to each other. They didn't understand that he was trying his hardest to be brave for the first time in his existence.

_And when I actually tried to fight back...when I summoned my sitar, they snatched it and beat me with it until it broke._

If anyone had seen those sea-colored eyes cloud with tears for a moment, they would have called it fear - or a trick of the light, since it wasn't possible for a Nobody to grieve. Especially over a heap of painted wooden splinters and broken strings that had been the most precious thing in his nonlife, even while it was being used to break his bones and his spirit.

_I can't cry. Not here. Not now._

He took a deep breath, ignoring the pain from his broken ribs. After all, his broken arm and broken teeth hurt just as much, and there wasn't anything he could do about them. And...compared to the pain of seeing his sitar destroyed, broken bones were nothing.

_It's probably just as well I wasn't allowed to testify at my trial, if you can call that a trial...I'd have made a royal fool of myself, not being able to hear any of the questions..._

While the noose was readied and the charges were being read, the prisoner stared blankly into the middle distance. Almost all the charges were pure invention, but he couldn't hear them anyway. Nor could he see the noose - he kept seeing blue wooden splinters.

_I can see them. Though I'm probably just imagining things. There's Xigbar, leaning against the wall, pretending he doesn't give a damn what's going on - probably fooling the rest of them, but not me. That eye is too watchful. Luxord - your outfit looks ridiculous, even if it is the height of fashion here. Guess your powers didn't keep you from getting here too late - assuming you're really there at all. It's probably just some random dandy who looks like you, but his outfit looks ridiculous anyway. Wish I could see Axel, but there aren't enough people in Port Royal with his hair color for me to hallucinate one of them is him, I guess. Is that Roxas? He looks terrified...  
_

The words "May God have mercy on your soul" were conspicuously absent from the ceremony. After all, Nobodies had no hearts, therefore no souls. The condemned man couldn't hear the drumroll, but he could feel it faintly through the wooden platform.

_Well, whether any of you are here or not, this is it...sorry it ended up like this...__wish I had a little more time, but...maybe I'll see you all in the next life...if I have a next life..._

The noose was slipped around his neck and tightened.

_I wasn't done with this one...I am so afraid...I don't want to die... _

The drumroll stopped. The hangman threw the lever. The trapdoor sprang open.

_Goodbye -_

Demyx hit the ground with a painful, jarring impact. The burnt end of the rope snaked down on top of him.

_What the fuck just happened?!_

A pair of lean, scarred hands suddenly grabbed his shoulder. Soldiers were charging towards them them, in slow motion - Luxord's work, it had to be.

_I'm not dead I'm not dead holy shit I'm not dead!_

He looked up at Xigbar in disbelief. (What are we gonna have to rescue your sorry ass from next, dude?) the Freeshooter said, right before the world blurred and went dark.

* * *

Something tapped Demyx's forehead, right where the rock had hit earlier. He flinched and opened his eyes. **Way to faint, idiot,** Axel signed. His face was ghostly white. **For a second, I thought I'd blown it and we'd have to ask Luxord for a do-over.**

Demyx squinted up at him - they were back in the white hallways of the Castle that Never Was, suddenly - and discovered his hands were still tied together and there was still a rope around his neck. Axel smacked his forehead and let him free.** Gotta love those blindingly stupid spur-of-the-moment rescue plans that somehow work out anyway. We'd better get you to Vexen.** Demyx nodded weakly as everything started to go dark again. The next time he came to, he found himself lying in a bed in the medical wing, with a pleasant sort of floaty feeling. He blinked, trying to make the world come into better focus.

A hand waved over his face, and he tried to focus on the hand and its owner - Roxas. **Nice to see you lived through that,** Roxas signed. **Don't try to sign anything; your arm's in a cast. And you probably shouldn't talk either. Kingdom Hearts, they gave you a thorough working-over.** Demyx nodded weakly, which was about all he could do. **What did they do to you? Wait, sorry, you...Demyx?**

Demyx suddenly broke down, as he remembered the awful sensation of something giving way on impact, inside and out, and seeing the ground suddenly littered with little blue splinters. _What did they do to me? I wish I could tell you..._ In his mind's eye, he could still see the broken pieces he'd recalled to his hands, instants before they were snatched away and smashed completely, right in front of him. The life he'd been so desperate to keep during those last few seconds on the gallows didn't seem so appealing anymore. His broken ribs hurt agonizingly with every sob, but they'd heal sooner or later - his wonderful sitar, the best thing in his universe, was shattered beyond all hope of repair. Replace it? Impossible. It would be just as easy to replace his ears.

Something touched his shoulder, and he looked up through a veil of tears. Axel was standing there, eyes full of concern and anger. **Demyx, what did they do to you? They beat you, obviously, but did they...hurt you in other ways? Not just physically?**

Demyx glanced at him nervously. If he got an answer he didn't like, Axel _would_ go back and burn down large sections of Port Royal; that was inevitable as the tides. And, unable to speak or sign, he didn't have many good ways to get his message across anyway. Not knowing what else to do, he reached into the air with his good arm and tried to summon his sitar, or what was left of it. The room was suddenly covered in wooden splinters, fragments of the resonating chamber, broken and twisted frets, broken strings, and the occasional lonely tuning peg.

Axel and Roxas stared openmouthed at the devastation. **I think I get the picture,** Axel signed, as Roxas combed a coiled string out of his hair. **No wonder you couldn't get out of there by yourself.** Demyx nodded miserably; every injury he'd suffered over the last three days - and there were more of them than he'd thought - seemed to hurt at once. **That's going to take almost as long to fix itself as your arm.**

The room spun for a second. "...What?" Demyx whispered, heedless of the pain.

Axel stared at him blankly for a moment, then a lightbulb seemed to come on. **You've never broken your weapon before, have you.** Demyx shook his head. **Well, the rest of us tend to break ours on a fairly regular basis, some more often than others. And when they break, they always magically put themselves back together sooner or later. In your case -** Axel looked critically at the shattered fragments - **I'm guessing later. What did they do, beat you with it until it broke?** Demyx nodded miserably. Axel cursed and made a rude gesture at the distant abusers. **That was harsh. That was beyond harsh. And they say we're evil.**

"...You're going to burn the city, aren't you." Now his broken teeth hurt. A lot.

**I'm tempted. I am well and truly tempted.  
**

**I'd help him,** Roxas added. **Why would they do something like that? You of all people don't exactly go out of your way to make trouble for anyone - why in Kingdom Hearts would they want to kill you so badly?**

Demyx swallowed hard. Some emotions had been easier to remember than others, came back faster after he'd lost his heart. Joy, when he'd discovered he could summon his sitar at will. Fear - probably the first time he'd had to fight. Irritation, when Xigbar made snarky comments about his hairstyle. Grief had been one of the last to come back, when he'd started to lose his hearing. But there was still one that hadn't returned, one he'd never missed, and had almost forgotten about. One he'd just seen from too many sides, and in too many eyes - and on too many lips - to ever forget again.

(Heartless beast.) (Inhuman monster.) (Heart-snatcher.) (Soulless demon.) (You're an insult to all that is holy.) (Your kind are a plague.) (Thank God there'll be one less of you by sunset.) (See you in Hell - Nobody.)

"...Hatred."

* * *

AN: Wow, I seem to be on a beat-up-Demyx kick. Vexen better hurry with his new hearing aids. 

This did come to me in a dream - Demyx was on the gallows at Port Royal, about to hang for who-knows-what - probably wrongly accused, seeing as he's Demyx and all - and when they pulled the lever, he dropped straight to the ground, because Axel had burned through the rope at the last second. And then I made a story to go with it. The idea that Axel, Demyx, Luxord, and Xigbar sometimes get together in Port Royal for drinks is from a much older story idea that I eventually decided would work much better as a comic strip than a story, if only I could draw.

Why did I make hatred the motivating factor? Just going by what I know of human nature, it's pretty easy to get people to hate other people who are different from them, and Nobodies are different from everybody, in a decidedly creepy way. If simply being gay can inspire scum and asshats to beat the shit out of you and leave you tied to a fence to die in this supposedly enlightened day and age, what would not having a heart inspire in the uneducated masses of a much less enlightened day and age? Violence, brutality, and eventually, a legalized lynching.

There will be chapters. Do not doubt this now. And Axel will burn things, got it memorized?

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, got it memorized?


	2. Vigilante Justice

"So, how's it going?"

Demyx shrugged onesidedly. "I'm alive, so better than I expected a week ago." He mumbled like he had a mouthful of Novocain.

Axel took a deep breath. "Yeah, that was...something I'd like to never go through again. And you probably enjoyed it even less than I did. Boy, did that sound stupid." Demyx didn't comment. "So...how are your new hearing aids working out?"

"They work."

"Uh huh...how's your mouth feel?"

"Pretty numb."

"How's the rest of you?"

"Sore."

"Are you mind-blowingly traumatized, or are you just too hopped up on painkillers to engage in actual conversation?"

"Both."

"I was afraid of that..."

"They all wanted me dead, Ax." Demyx's voice was suddenly even softer and weaker than it had been, so Axel had to ask him to repeat himself. "They all wanted me dead."

Axel scratched his head. _This conversation is about to go places I'd rather it didn't go... _ "Who wanted you dead?" _If it turns out to be the voices in your head, I'm getting out of here._

"Everyone there." Demyx's eyes were downcast. "I saw their faces...I saw what they were saying...they hated me." Despite all his impulses to start bad-mouthing the crowd who had been assembled at the gallows, Axel waited for him to continue. Demyx swallowed hard. "I can still feel the rope," he whispered, running his good hand across his throat almost unconsciously.

Axel sighed and rubbed his forehead - there wasn't anything he could say. But he spoke anyway. "Well...you're safe now, at least."

"I know..." Safe...after a few hours at the tavern with the guys turned into three days of torture and a public death sentence, all because someone had discovered he didn't have a heart. It would be more worrying if Demyx _wasn't_ traumatized after something like that. Axel might have wondered if a week shouldn't have been long enough, except he'd jerked awake at 3:30 that morning after dreaming he'd been an instant too late, and hadn't burned through the rope in time. Even knowing that had he failed, Luxord could have wound time back again and again and given him an infinite number of chances didn't make him feel a bit better.

"You didn't deserve this shit," he muttered angrily. Demyx sighed and looked away. "Why the hell'd they have to catch you? You're the only one of the bunch without the sense to fight back in the first place..." _Okay, way to go, Axel, you idiot...talk about having no sense... _ "Sorry, I didn't mean that the way it came out."

If Demyx hadn't been on painkillers, the conversation could have become even more awkward in a hurry. But he just shrugged and accepted Axel's apology. "S'okay...I know I'm...one of th' duller crayons in th' box..."

If? Could have? How awkward could a conversation get? _Yay, way to put your foot in it, Ax..._ "Could you not talk like that?" Demyx shrugged and looked confused. "Sheesh...if you're going to talk crazy like that, I may as well vacate the premises so you can get a little rest."

Demyx blinked worriedly at him. Between the Novocain in his mouth and the painkillers in his system, his reply was almost indecipherable. Axel shook his head in bewilderment, and he frowned. "Yer gonna...burn th'city...aintcha..."

"Demyx, why -"

"Don' do it, Ax. Rox'll follow ya...y'll get 'm in trouble...s'not worth it..."

"After what they did to you -"

"Think they'll be nicer t'you? Or t'Rox? He said he'd help ya...jus' think'a wha' they'd do t'him 'f they caught'm..." Demyx shook his head and tried to sit up. "Don' do it. Jus'...don'."

Axel held up a hand. "Demyx. Relax. I'm not a complete idiot, got it memorized? Port Royal is officially hostile territory, bad things happen if you enter hostile territory; I can put two and two together."

"Jus' don' wan' you t'get hurt..." Demyx's voice trailed off, and his eyes closed. Round one to the painkillers in a knockout decision. Painkillers, one, Demyx, nothing. Axel shook his head and left the medical wing, thinking over their conversation. Like it or not, and like it he didn't, Demyx had made a very good point. If any of them went back to Port Royal in the near future, the odds were too good that they'd end up on the receiving end of much the same treatment he had - not necessarily including being attacked with their own weapons, but it was clearly a possibility. And like it or not - and he didn't like it at all - it really behooved Axel to change his plans. He went and knocked on Roxas's door.

Roxas opened the door and looked at him warily. "Should I be ready to go soon?"

Axel shook his head. "I've changed my mind. We're not going back to Port Royal."

Roxas tried unsuccessfully to hold back a sigh of relief. "Just as well, I guess...I was having a few doubts."

Axel nodded. "Demyx convinced me...said it was too dangerous if we got caught, and who'd know better than him." He shuddered slightly.

"Yeah...it's horrible, what happened to him, but it wouldn't make anything better if one of us came back looking the same way."

"Or didn't come back at all; since he managed to escape, maybe Nobodies are shoot-on-sight now...yeah, Dems seems to be a magnet for shit luck some days, and I'm not that hot on inviting some of it on myself." Axel looked a little wistful. "Even if it would be fun to watch some of that city burn..."

"Axel..."

Axel held up his hands. "Did I not just tell you I'm not going back? I gotta go check my blood sugar before dinner - catch up with you in the kitchen."

* * *

Technically, Axel hadn't told Roxas or Demyx anything but the truth - he did realize Port Royal was dangerous territory for a Nobody, they weren't going back, it had been Demyx who'd convinced him, he wasn't hot on bringing any of Demyx's bad luck down on himself, it would be fun to watch Port Royal burn, and he did not tell Roxas that he, Axel, wasn't going back. 

Because as soon as Roxas had gone to bed and the coast was clear, Axel did go back. Demyx had managed to convince him - that it was too dangerous to bring Roxas along. And he knew that if Roxas thought he'd gone by himself, he'd follow, and Demyx and Roxas might compare stories. Hence the careful word choices.

His first stop was the gallows. He paused for a moment to admire the way it looked in the moonlight, then realized - _There's nothing beautiful about this thing. It's just a damn killing device. And it damn near killed Demyx._ He was perfectly happy to kill it with fire, and spent longer than was probably wise watching the flames dance in the night as the scaffold burned merrily and eventually collapsed in on itself.

_Serves you._

The inferno had inevitably attracted attention, and Axel disappeared into the shadows, pulling his hood up to conceal his extremely visible hair. He was grinning like the cat with all the cream. _Now the prison._

He dodged and teleported from dark shadow to darker shadow, enjoying the adrenaline high he always got from sneaking around setting fires under people's noses. When he still had a heart, he'd always felt a little sick after it was all over, but losing it had enabled him to ignore the uncomfortable sensation and just enjoy the burning-things part. And tonight was going to be a grand night for doing just that.

But the stone walls of the prison stymied him. He could, if he so desired, summon a fire so hot even stone would burn, if he cared to risk death twice - once from the sheer power expenditure and once from wearing himself out and being captured and killed. Not tonight - he had too many other things to burn, and he really did want to return safely.

_Gunpowder. I need gunpowder. But where the hell am I gonna find enough? Probably the armory, but where the hell is that?_

Well, Axel couldn't exactly stop and ask someone for directions. Besides, that wasn't his only fish to fry. And speaking of fish to fry... He eyed the boats lined up along the docks, grinning malevolently. Moments later, one of them burst into flames. Packed as tight as they were, it was only a matter of time before the lot of them burned, and the docks with them. Much as he'd have liked to stay and watch them go, he knew every instant he held still could be the crucial instant between escape and safety and capture and probable death.

_Next stop...the tavern._

That triply damned tavern where the whole mess had begun. One moment they'd been enjoying a drink and a night off, then a fight broke out - shots were fired - someone yelled to run for it - and then Axel, Luxord, and Xigbar were all safely back at the Castle that Never Was, and Demyx was missing in action. _We were all too sure Mr. Sweet-and-Innocent-Face would weasel his way out of anything he got into to worry all that much for the first few hours...granted, we weren't expecting a fucking lynch mob..._

The streets were much emptier than Axel had expected, probably because everyone was running to the gallows fire and the burning ships. On the one hand, it made hiding and escaping much easier, on the other hand, the adrenaline rush wasn't so strong without the panicked faces. The tavern was painted wood, dry as a bone, which made him feel better; one touch and it went up like paper. He paused for a moment, enjoying the blaze...and something very hard and very heavy struck the back of his head.

His last thought before collapsing was _Shit, I've been caught..._

* * *

AN: Oh noes! What's gonna happen to Axel?

Truly, I haven't decided yet...Has he been knocked unconscious and captured, now to face the same unpleasant fate that Demyx suffered - probably an even nastier one, since he'd been going around burning things - or did Roxas wake up, realize he was missing, guess where he went, hunt him down, and hit him over the head with a Keyblade for being such a dumbass?

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, got it memorized?


	3. The Drowning Cage

Something jabbed Axel roughly in the side. All the events of the past several days - from the tavern brawl to rescuing Demyx from the gallows to lighting the docks on fire to being knocked upside the head with something hard and heavy - rushed back into his head at once as he came to, and he curled defensively into a ball, predicting this was only the start of his systematic abuse.

"Finally. I was hoping I wouldn't have to haul your carcass around. There are still angry people after you, I hope you know."

Axel blinked in astonishment and sat up, holding his pounding head. "_Roxas?!_...The hell are you doing here?!"

"Apparently saving your ass, dumbfuck. Did you not tell me you weren't going back to Port Royal?!"

"...Actually, no, I didn't. I told you _we_ weren't going back to Port Royal, we being you and me, back when I was expecting you to do something clever like, I don't know, _stay the fuck home_. Besides, if you were trying to save me, what the hell did you hit me for?"

"I'm tired and it seemed easier than talking to you. Still does. Now let's go." Roxas grabbed his hands, hauled him upright, and started running, dragging him along.

"The angry people who are coming after me are in the other direction, right?"

"I damn well hope so!" Shots rang out, and Roxas stumbled. For a terrifying second, Axel thought he'd been hit, but he recovered from his surprise and kept running.

"Are you sure? 'Cause I"m not so sure anymore..."

"Ax...I gotta say...I was never sure..."

"Well, shit." They rounded a corner and ran straight into a squad of marines who'd apparently been scouring the city for the firestarter who'd torched the docks and the tavern - a firestarter with bright red hair and tattoos under his eyes. Axel had a brief vision of himself and Roxas becoming the first two victims of the newly-rebuilt gallows.

"Arrest that man! Arrest them both!" Axel and Roxas struggled, but the soldiers had the advantage of numbers. One of them shoved Roxas against the wall, holding him by the throat, ignoring his attempts to scratch, bite, and kick him while shoving one hand down his shirt. "This runt doesn't have a heart either." He threw Roxas to the ground and gave him a swift kick in the gut before he could react, doubling him over and knocking the wind out of him.

An instant later, his uniform was completely engulfed by flames. Axel, who at least had a size advantage over his captors, had been using only his fists and his feet, not having enough opportunity to summon his weapons. Now, seeing Roxas getting kicked around like that, his element came into play. Unfortunately for him, this didn't scare the soldiers away; even more of them piled on, one wrapping his elbow around Axel's throat so he couldn't breathe. But they left Roxas alone long enough for him to regain his breath, stand up, and summon his Keyblades with the intention of helping Axel fight.

Axel shook his head desperately. "Rox - no - get out!" he gasped.

"But I can't -"

"Do it!" Another uniform caught fire; Axel didn't give a damn whose as long as he now had his hand free to open a portal right next to where Roxas was standing. "There - go - don't let them get you - " Another soldier clubbed him with the butt of his gun; he struggled to stay conscious. "Can't help me - go!"

Roxas stood still, frozen with indecision. "Axel -"

Axel was fighting as hard as he could to keep the soldiers' attention and efforts on him and off Roxas. "Rox - just go - quick!" Roxas, his eyes never leaving Axel's face, stepped hesitantly through the portal, and it closed behind him. Assured that his friend would be safe now, Axel finally collapsed, overcome by lack of oxygen and repeated blows to the head.

* * *

Demyx was sleeping close to sixteen hours a day now; the painkillers tended to knock him out, and it wasn't like there was much else for him to do while he recovered. He'd learned when to expect Axel or Roxas to visit - after breakfast, maybe after lunch, and before dinner, or whenever they got back if they were still gone on a mission at dinnertime. Other than that and meals, he mostly stared at the wall, or waited for the painkillers to take over, or slept. That was life in the recovery room, but he didn't enjoy the routine. 

So having Roxas suddenly burst through the door and wake him up might have been a welcome interruption, if it hadn't been shortly after midnight and Roxas wasn't obviously terrified witless. "Rox...the hell are you doin' here?"

"They got Axel," the younger Nobody choked.

"...What?"

"They got Axel!" Roxas looked ready to tear his hair out.

It took longer than it should have for the pieces to come together. "They...Axel...what are you...that fuckwad went back to Port Royal?! He told me he wasn't going to!"

"That's what I thought he told me, but he went anyway!"

Demyx swallowed hard. _Don't freak out. Don't panic. Try to think calmly._ "Captured, right? They didn't just...shoot him?" Roxas shook his head. "Well, that's something, at least..." _Think calmly...yeah, right._ Fortunately, the painkillers were still working, fuzzing out the panic process along with his thought process. "Oh, shit..."

Roxas slumped into the only available chair, his head in his hands. "It was my fault..."

"...What?" Demyx was too busy fighting the urge to just pass out again and ignore everything until tomorrow to process what Roxas was saying. "How?"

"I went back to get him...if I hadn't slowed him down, he'd have gotten away..."

Demyx held up his good hand. If his brain wasn't going to work right, he wanted as little extraneous information in it as possible. "...So...what are you gonna do now?"

"Do? I dunno - I can't..."

"No, Rox...I can't." Demyx's stomach started feeling funny. _Lovely...I'm not going to start puking now, am I? Vexen warned me the painkillers might make me sick..._ "This can't wait 'till morning...get more help..." He gulped. "Don't think they'll kill him right off...they tried questioning me first; didn't get far..." He took a few deep breaths, trying to keep himself awake and his stomach in line. "Sooner the rest of 'em know, sooner somethin'll get done..." _Please get out of here before I pass out or throw up..._

"I can't just -"

"You gotta. You want him to end up like me, or..._gurrk._" His stomach won. Demyx barely had time to lean over the basin Vexen had left next to his bed before he threw up. Roxas looked at him in dismay. "Not a pretty sight, am I..." he murmured as he collapsed back into bed, his broken teeth feeling like a mouthful of barbed wire now. "This is what's gonna happen to Axel soon...or worse..."

Roxas shook his head. "No. I...sorry. I'll go get Xigbar." He bolted out the door as suddenly as he'd bolted in earlier.

"Smart..." Demyx mumbled as he blacked out again.

* * *

Axel woke up feeling like someone had been using his head for a soccerball. _Shit...that hurts..._ He tried to reach up, to check for a bump. That's when he discovered his hands were cuffed together and chained to his waist. His ankles were chained too. 

He tried to stand up from the crouching position he'd been left in. He was locked in a cage too small for him to even sit up straight, and his neck was chained to the bars at the top of the cage. Chained securely enough that he could choke himself in a hurry if he wasn't careful.

And the cage was secured to what was left of the docks. He was up to his neck in seawater.

_Fantastic...could they have put me in any worse a position without killing me outright?_

Just out of curiosity, he tried to check for his insulin pump, remembering how they'd destroyed Demyx's hearing aids. It was pretty difficult, considering how his hands were restrained, but as far as he could tell, it was gone.

So, he was restrained to the point of immobility, he couldn't use his powers while he was almost submerged, he was facing inevitable death by execution, drowning, or diabetic coma, and he had a vicious headache. _Now_ it couldn't get any worse.

Well...Demyx had come out with broken bones, and he didn't think he had any of those yet. So yes, it could still get worse. And Roxas had gotten away, so it could have been even worse yet.

"He's awake." Something rattled the cage roughly, making Axel's head pound even worse. "How's a good long bath make you feel, fire demon?"

And right there was one more way it could get worse. Axel didn't even bother to look up at whoever was speaking. "Maybe he's an idiot, like the other one," someone else suggested.

Axel couldn't help himself. "He is not an idiot. He's deaf, you assholes. Did you ever consider that?"

"Ah, but you're neither -" A hand reached through the bars of the cage and grabbed his hair, pulling at it painfully and making the shackle scrape against his throat in a way he was pretty sure would draw blood. "So now that you're awake enough to be grateful we've spared your pitiful excuse for a life, you might thank us by telling us where your little friend went."

"Sir..." someone interrupted hesitantly. "I thought Nobodies couldn't feel gratitude..."

"Dunno what I have to be grateful to you shits for anyway - this doesn't qualify." Axel would have killed them all in a second, if he could have moved or used his powers at all. "I can still feel loyalty, though. So if you want to find out where the other guy went - I say you can go look for him yourselves. Damned if I'll give you a hint." Even if he'd told them, not only would the information not have done them any good, they probably wouldn't have believed him. He was still determined not to give them anything but a hard time.

The grip on his head suddenly reversed, pushing his face into the water and pulling the chain on his neck so tight he could barely breathe anyway. "Whenever you care to cooperate, simply nod, and I'll allow you some air."

Axel struggled uselessly. Fighting the chains only left scrapes and cuts on his skin that stung endlessly in the salt water. Bubbles escaped from his mouth and nose as he started to panic. His lungs were burning - he needed air - he had to give - he had to _breathe_ -

He shook his head.

The last bit of air in his lungs had been used up and his vision was starting to go dark when his head was suddenly jerked out of the water. "It's your lucky day, demon. You're too potentially useful to drown. Let him soak overnight; he may prove more...sensible...tomorrow."

Axel was gasping for breath and barely conscious. _How long is this gonna last? How long am I gonna last?_

* * *

AN: Hands up everyone who expected that one. I've never guilt-loaded Roxas before; I thought it was about his turn. HighOnPainkillers!Demyx may reappear when he can be used to more humorous effect. 

I had a million nasty, unpleasant things I could have done to Axel. I liked the dockside cage best - keep him submerged and unable to use his element, and leave the arsonist at the scene of the crime, exposed to abuse. He's not going to have a fun night. Poor guy. Demyx told him not to go back to Port Royal.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, got it memorized?


	4. Second Rescue

Demyx was unwillingly dragged into consciousness the next morning as the dose of painkillers that had held him overnight wore off, making room for a myriad of aches and pains, some much sharper than others. _Ugh...didn't I ask for a better wake-up call?_

He rubbed his head, trying to clear it. That had been a weird dream...Roxas barging in in a panic saying that Axel had gone back to Port Royal and been captured, when he remembered now that Axel hadn't gone to Port Royal at all; he'd specifically told Demyx that it was too dangerous for them...a freaky dream, especially at the time, but obviously a dream, and Axel would show up for a visit after breakfast like usual...his mouth tasted like vomit for some reason...

Half of his mind said _Ew, nasty_. The other half said _You threw up while you were talking to Roxas. That wasn't a dream. That really happened._

_And Axel is really screwed._

Demyx gulped hard, wishing for some water to rinse his mouth out with, but with his sitar in bits and pieces - ever-larger and ever-fewer bits and pieces, but bits and pieces nonetheless - he had virtually no control over his element. _Kingdom Hearts, am I ever going to see him again?_ he wondered. _Or are they going to kill him first? Since I got away, they might not take any chances with him..._

_It's been overnight. He could be dead already. They might have dragged him off and shot him as soon as Roxas wasn't watching._

Injured and bedridden as he was, Demyx couldn't even check the Proof of Existence. All he could do was lie in bed staring at the ceiling and hoping Vexen came by with his next dose soon, so he could let the painkillers take over and not have to think anymore.

* * *

_If there are any gods who look after Nobodies, forgive me; I think I'm gonna break._

Axel had never been so low in his life, including his previous life as a Somebody; even in the execution chamber he'd at least been allowed some dignity, and he had to admit it had gone pretty painlessly, considering. Now, he was trapped in a little cage secured to the partially-ruined dock, chained hand and foot, submerged up to his neck, for hours on end - he had no way of knowing how long. Only the fact that the sun was just now setting for the first time convinced him he hadn't been there for days already. He was starving, thirsty as hell - ironic, since he was surrounded by water - his aching head made him feel sick and dizzy whenever he moved, and the rest of him was so cold and stiff he could barely move anyway, even if he wasn't so tightly restrained. He couldn't even raise his head to look at the sky without the collar around his neck choking him. And those damn seagulls kept circling around and screeching, like they were a gang of vultures waiting for him to die. He'd developed a burning hatred for seagulls.

And if he didn't drown, wasn't executed, and didn't die of exposure, he'd die of hyperglycemia. Though that was probably the one thing helped by their not bringing him anything to eat. Actually, what would happen to his blood sugar levels without food or insulin? An interesting question, and one he'd probably learn the answer to a hell of a lot sooner than he'd like.

"A pleasant evening, this, though I suppose your kind wouldn't be able to appreciate such a thing as beauty...I wonder whether or not it may have you feeling any more cooperative nonetheless." Axel gritted his teeth - he'd yet to see the man's face, but he recognized the voice as belonging to the same person who'd yanked him around by the hair and held his head underwater earlier in an attempt to get him to tell where Roxas had escaped to.

It wouldn't make a difference whether he told him or not...it wasn't like this buffoon could actually follow Roxas back to the World that Never Was, even if he believed what Axel said...and maybe if he did believe it, this misery would end a little sooner... "Go fuck a snake."

The man actually laughed at him. "I'm afraid I don't share your...creative diversions. The idea fails to appeal to me as much as it might to yourself."

"Ask your wife how she likes it."

He could almost feel the man's glare on the back of his neck as his companions - probably guards - snickered. "A clever rejoinder -" he grabbed Axel's head and shoved him as far underwater as possible, letting the redhead struggle helplessly - "but I'm afraid you're in no position to be making clever rejoinders." As before, he didn't release his grip until the last moment before Axel blacked out and drowned. Axel gasped weakly, unable to talk; the iron collar around his neck had injured his throat. "Clearly, your kind can suffer, I can see...are you all too foolish to take the cure and end the pain? It's as simple as telling me where the others are hiding...I know there are more than three of you..."

Axel gagged and vomited seawater. "Fuck you," he rasped.

The man sighed in irritation. "Very well...I'll speak with you in the morning, then."

As the footsteps along the pier faded away, Axel cried silently, the tears rolling down his face instead of puffing into steam like they usually did. _Roxas, I know you, I know you went to get help as soon as you could...please, get here soon..._

* * *

A young boy, who'd spent his days working on his father's fishing boat until it was destroyed and had been keenly interested in the supposed demon Nobody who'd destroyed it and the dock it was tied to, watched in fascination as the harmless-looking, almost grandfatherly man who was in charge of the interrogation left the abandoned pier where the Nobody was imprisoned, and the three soldiers who'd been guarding him stayed behind, presumably to guard the prisoner. Sensing there would be nothing else interesting to see that day, and since it was sunset already, the boy scampered off home, expertly dodging irritated passerby. Taking a shortcut, he nipped into a narrow, dark alleyway...and disappeared into a hole in space, which healed itself behind him. 

On the other side of that hole, a curious transformation occurred. The boy's short, curly hair and dark features blurred and melted away, revealing a very short young man with pale skin and silver-blue hair that hung over his eyes. "They've set a night guard on him - only three men, so far as I can tell."

Xigbar nodded warily at Zexion. Roxas hadn't quit pacing the floor all day, except when they'd forced him to sit down for half an hour. "You got a boat ready, dude?"

"I know where to find a useful one...and I intend to have the entire dockside area cleared before we move, so commandeering it temporarily should be no problem."

"Are we going now?" Roxas asked, never looking up from the floor.

"Not yet. In three hours, it should be full dark in Port Royal, and the guards should be bored and willing to jump for any distraction...especially the one I have in mind."

"What do you have in mind?"

"You'll see, Thirteen...you'll see..."

Roxas hissed angrily. "I don't even want to think about what they're doing to him - and you want us to stay put for another three hours?!"

"It seems preferable to the three of us being captured as well..."

"But chained underwater like that - it might kill him -"

"And if the three of us move too soon and are captured, how will that help him? Even less than your wearing yourself out beforehand..." Roxas took the hint and sat down, his head in his hands. This was going to be a very long three hours.

* * *

By now, Axel was too cold and numb to care how stiff and sore he was. He barely even cared about how cold and numb he was. He was all alone in a small, dark, watery, foggy world, and all he cared about was when he could get out of it. Rescue and death seemed equally appealing at this point. 

He spared a thought out of the unending misery for his friends. _Sorry, Demyx, I should have listened to you...Roxas, if you don't get here soon, don't come at all, because there won't be anyone to rescue...if I don't see either of you again, sorry for being such a dumbass...I want this over with._

Now he was starting to hallucinate. The docks were mostly destroyed, he'd seen to that himself, and his cage was secured to one of the last intact piers, subject to abuse from soldiers, boat traffic, waves, and seagulls. It wasn't possible for a lot of large ships - or he guessed that's what they were, based on the splashing and creaking - to suddenly come into the port and expect to dock. It was the cold coming up with all this - or repeated head injuries.

It wasn't until he heard men shouting in Spanish, and the soldiers who'd been guarding him took off running, that he got the idea that maybe it wasn't all in his head. The gunshots and cannonfire clinched it. Now he was hoping he wouldn't be hit by a stray bullet or cannonball - and ifsobe his existence was suddenly wiped out by a cannonball, he hoped he didn't see it coming...

Or maybe he really was hallucinating...he was hearing voices, familiar ones, above the noise of ships and battle...he couldn't hear what they were saying yet, but he knew they were familiar...only the cold was getting to him so badly he couldn't remember whose they were...it didn't matter; they weren't really there...

"Axel? Axel, can you hear me?"

_I know that voice..._

Axel looked up, ignoring the pressure the iron collar put on his already-sore throat. "Roxas?"

A light gleamed in the fog. "I told you I'd be able to find him again..." He recognized that voice now too - it was Zexion's.

"Dude, clear the air a little; it'd be nice to see what we were doing..."

"Excellent point..." The fog lifted slightly, revealing a small rowboat coming towards the pier. Roxas was standing up, holding his Keyblades; he was the one responsible for the light. Zexion was seated, looking at Roxas warily as if he expected him to upset the boat any second. Xigbar was rowing. As soon as they were close enough, Roxas simply jumped from boat to pier, making the boat rock ominously. "Thirteen -"

Roxas ignored Zexion completely. He lit up the little cage Axel was imprisoned in. "Kingdom Hearts...what have they been doing to you?" Axel was having a hard time breathing, craning his neck to look at him despite the chains; he couldn't respond. "Where's the way into this thing?"

Axel let his head drop, letting himself breathe more freely. "I don't know. I don't remember how they got me in here. I was out cold."

"You must have been in a damn coma..." Roxas rattled each wall of the cage he could reach, trying to find the one that gave enough to be a locked door. Finally, the back wall had the give he was looking for. He stuck one Keyblade under the water, a light glowed briefly, and two strong padlocks Axel hadn't even known were there opened and fell off, disappearing into the water. "I'd so hoped that would work." Then he tried to work the other Keyblade through the bars, aiming for the chain around Axel's neck.

"Be careful what you're doing with that," Axel said.

"I'm really not trying to cut your head off..." Keyblade and lock glowed briefly, and the collar cracked open and fell away. "There. That should help. Is any of the rest of you chained to the cage?"

Axel shook his head, grateful the chain wasn't cutting into his throat anymore. "I dunno. I can't move."

"Great..." Roxas took a deep breath. "Xigbar, if you've got that thing tied up yet, I could use some help...gotta get him out of there..."

"Hang on a sec, dude; I'll come around there and we can try to get him into the boat..."

Axel's consciousness was wavering; he barely noticed as Roxas and Xigbar tried to pull him into the boat while Zexion stood on the pier and watched. By the time Roxas finished removing the chains from his hands and feet and throwing them overboard, he was out cold.

* * *

AN: Didn't expect an illusion Spanish Armada, did they. Can't ignore that, can ya! 

Now, are they going to be able to make a clean getaway? Probably, with Xigbar and Zexion along for the ride, but you never know...and poor Demyx still doesn't know what's going on...and we can't be sure how badly Axel is hurt...

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, got it memorized?


	5. Safe, Not Sound

"Axel, come on, wake up. You're safe now."

Waking up wasn't high on Axel's to-do list. He was fairly confident his rescue was nothing but a hallucination brought on by cold, exposure, and wonky blood sugar, but he wanted to preserve the illusion as long as possible before waking up to the reality of being chained in a too-small cage, submerged up to his neck, and slowly dying of exposure. "Go away," he muttered. "You're not real, got it memorized?"

Something poked him, hard. "If you want to get technical, none of us are real, but I'm at least as real as you are."

"Fuck you. I'm hallucinating."

The slap across his face was not a hallucination. "Am I real yet?"

"Ow...dammit...yeah, I guess so." He opened his eyes. Roxas was standing over him, glaring at him. "Hi, Rox...you look pissed..."

Roxas immediately slumped into the nearest chair, burying his head in his hands. "Right now, I am just so relieved you're awake and still recognize me..." he groaned.

Axel read the abrupt mood swing as a bad sign. "...How bad is it?"

"You, personally...not so bad, considering. Got away with nothing worse than a concussion and some nasty scrapes and bruises, plus hypoglycemia and hypothermia. No broken bones."

Axel gulped, making his injured throat ache. "I, personally, am not so bad? I don't like that answer, got it memorized? What's up with who else?"

Roxas took a deep breath. "Well...I dunno how much you remember about it, but...as a cover-up for your escape, Zexion cast the illusion of an invading fleet, so the soldiers would be distracted, the civilians would clear the area, and no one would notice us. And...part of that was illusion bullets and cannonfire. Just illusions, to make the whole illusion seem more real. But the soldiers on the shore...didn't know that. They shot back, with real bullets and real cannonballs. And they couldn't see too clearly - Zexion had generated a lot of fog, too." He swallowed hard before continuing. "Xigbar got shot."

Axel sat up straight and came close to passing out all over again. He groaned and clutched his aching, bandaged head. "Kingdom Hearts...how bad is it?"

"He's still alive...last I knew."

"Oh...fuck." Axel lay back down slowly, with a stream of profanity that would have earned a backwards glance from a hardened pirate. Roxas just stared in mixed awe and horror. He finished with "I am just the biggest dumbass any world has ever known, aren't I? Go ahead, admit it, I am."

"Axel -"

"Come on, if I hadn't been such a dumbfuck as to go back to Port Royal in the first place, none of this other shit would have happened, no one else would have gotten hurt, and we could all still be sitting around happy. Well, except for Demyx. But I doubt he's thrilled either."

Roxas shook his head. "I don't know. He was all woozy from painkillers last time I tried to talk to him. I don't know if he has any idea what's going on."

"Maybe just as well..." Axel sighed. "I feel like such an ass. I'm in trouble, aren't I?"

"You think?" Roxas snapped. Then he softened. "It's not like you haven't suffered for it already."

"Ugh...Rox, leave me alone for a little while, could you? I wanna think..."

"Think all you want...I'm not going anywhere."

* * *

Demyx wasn't utterly clueless - he remembered enough of his first conversation with Roxas to know that Axel had been captured. The only thing he knew about it was that Axel hadn't been killed right off the bat and that he'd told Roxas to get help instead of standing around beating himself up. That little bit of knowledge wasn't reassuring in the least - had Roxas pulled himself together in time to warn someone else? Was a rescue attempt in the works, or already in progress, or had one already succeeded, or already failed? Had Axel simply been dragged off and shot as soon as Roxas turned his back? Since Roxas had never come back to explain himself - no one stopped by, except for Vexen with food and painkillers, and he was too distracted to talk - he had no information at all, and couldn't even haul himself out of bed and check the Proof of Existence. He was perpetually tense and worried, despite the calming effect of the painkillers - as a matter of fact, his last dose had wound up in the basin along with his dinner, either from nerves or the painkillers themselves, but he was too wound up to especially care how much everything hurt now. 

He couldn't stop thinking about the torture he'd endured in Port Royal, and wondering what horrors Axel was going through. Physical beatings, the lash, chaining in a dungeon, if they broke his chakra he'd be unable to use his powers, if they found out what his element was - and how could they not, since his expressed intent was to go set _fire_ to the city - they'd probably do something like hold his head underwater, or even keep him chained underwater... _If I don't get any news soon, I'm gonna flip._

He was still having a very unpleasant ride on a very uncomfortable train of thought when Vexen stormed in the door, looking like a million blizzards. "I refuse to have anything more to do with that idiot," he snarled to Demyx, whose response was to try to hide under the covers. "He can stitch his own wounds, one-handed if he likes, and see if I care."

"What idiot?" Demyx squeaked. It seemed a more appropriate answer than "Please don't kill me". Besides, if it was Axel, and he still felt well enough to give Vexen a hard time...

"Two, is who. Uncooperative, unreasonable..." Demyx didn't pay any attention to what else Xigbar was; he was too disappointed. Xigbar was a walking collection of scars, and needed stitches about once a month; he wanted to know about Axel. He let Vexen rant on without really hearing a word he said.

_I wish Roxas would come back...or better yet, Axel...I hope they don't hurt him too badly...why did he go back?..._

"Nine..." Vexen sounded exasperated now. "I presume the last dose of hydrocodone is no longer having any effect?" he asked in an acid tone. Apparently he'd either seen or gotten a whiff of the basin.

Once Demyx figured out what he was talking about, he nodded sheepishly. "I know I was supposed to tell you, but..."

"And the pain alone fails to provide adequate incentive?" Vexen sighed and consulted his watch. "I suppose it would not be completely out of line to give you a replacement dose, presuming this one stays down...if you start vomiting again, I may be forced to find you a new medication."

* * *

"Rox...how damn much trouble am I in?" 

Roxas jerked in surprise; he'd been close to nodding off while Axel thought silently. "I...don't know. I have no idea. I'm the lowest-ranked of all of us; how much would you expect me to know?"

"I dunno...just guess..."

Roxas sighed and shook his head. "If it was up to me, I'd say you've paid for whatever stupidity you've perpetrated. Besides, it's not all your fault."

Axel blinked in confusion. "What do you mean, it's not my fault?"

"If I hadn't gone after you...slowed you down...none of this might have happened. You might have gotten away clean."

Axel snorted, staring at his bandaged hands and wrists. "Not likely, the way I was going. If you hadn't followed me, no one would have even realized I was gone until the next morning." He gingerly touched the bandage around his throat that covered where the iron collar had scraped his skin raw, probably remembering the misery of the waterlogged cage. Roxas shuddered involuntarily at the thought of anyone - especially Axel - being trapped in that little...torture chamber...for any length of time. "You probably saved my life. If I'd stayed out there much longer, I don't think I'd have lasted long enough to hang."

Roxas sighed again, wishing he could stop thinking about the endless what-ifs and if-onlys and maybes before he went insane. "I...guess so..."

"Look, I'm being piss-poor company at the moment, I know - why don't you go check on Demyx, maybe bring him up to speed?"

"Ax, you've earned the right to be poor company -"

"If he does have any idea what's going on, it's probably not a good one, and he's flipping out left, right, and center."

"He doesn't need any more stress."

"Roxas..."

"All right, I get it..." Roxas crossed the hall to Demyx's hospital room. "Demyx, you still conscious?"

Demyx gave him a glassy-eyed, blissfully vacant smile. "Hi, Roxas," he said softly.

"...Kingdom Hearts, you're high as a kite." Demyx blinked in confusion. "The painkillers, doofus."

Demyx nodded slowly. "I know. They make me feel all...fuzzy," he drawled.

Roxas shook his head. "For the love of Kingdom Hearts..."

"But...I need it, Rox. Otherwise everything hurts so much..." Demyx held out his good hand pleadingly. "Besides...it makes me stop worrying, for a little while..."

Roxas groaned involuntarily. Odds were anything he tried to tell Demyx right now would go in one ear and out the other. "Worrying about what, may I ask?"

"About Axel." Demyx gave him a confused, reproachful, the-room-is-spinning-around-me look. "You told me they'd caught him. They're hurting him, I know they are. I told him not to go back..."

"Ah. Don't worry about him anymore. He's safe now. We got him back." Those twitchy eyes were making Roxas a little uneasy. _He's not going to remember a single thing I told him when his head clears,_ he thought.

"Good...poor Axel..."

Roxas raised an eyebrow. "Poor Axel? He's not nearly as bad off as you are." But Demyx was now leaning over the basin next to his bed. Roxas closed his eyes and tried not to listen.

"Roxas?" Demyx's voice was much clearer now, and shaky, and it didn't sound like nausea alone. Roxas dared to look once more; Demyx was staring into the basin with fear in his eyes. "Go get Vexen. There was blood in there."

* * *

AN: HighOnPainkillers!Demyx is still not being very funny, and Vexen's probably going to put him on new meds now. And Demyx is mad at me for looking up all the ways hydrocodone could possibly mess with you. It can cause internal bleeding problems, it's often combined with aspirin (to dissuade recreational overdose), which causes bleeding problems in its own right, it causes vomiting in one out of every three people, and as far as alarming medical symptoms go, vomiting blood is on a par with crushing chest pain and just below a grand mal seizure.

Demyx just said I'd write him a grand mal seizure if I thought I could fit it into the storyline. I didn't know he could get that pissed. All right; I promise to stop picking on you for a while; please don't ruin my laptop.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, got it memorized?


	6. A Little More Freedom

"Demyx? Are you all right?"

A stupid question, considering Demyx had multiple broken bones, his skin was being held together by stitches in parts, and he'd started vomiting blood last night. Demyx didn't seem to care; he didn't even lift his head from the pillow to look at his visitor. "Hi, Roxas," he said dully, without any of the idiotic bliss or glassy-eyed dissociation from reality Roxas had learned to associate with being under the influence of painkillers. "I...guess I'm okay. Considering."

"You don't sound okay, even considering," Roxas said dubiously. "You're all pale, for one thing."

Demyx sighed. "Fine. I feel like shit, in more ways than one."

It wasn't like Roxas didn't have enough to worry about, but he had to ask: "What's wrong?"

Demyx raised his head and looked at him for the first time since he'd entered the room. "How bad off is Axel? Don't try to soften it so I won't worry; if I think you're lying, I'll just worry even more."

Roxas took a deep breath, amazed that Demyx remembered anything he'd told him while he was sick and dizzy from the painkillers. "Truly, compared to you, he got off easy. He has a concussion, and some nasty scrapes and bruises, and his blood sugar was out of whack because they went after his insulin pump like they had your hearing aids, but he got away without any broken bones or major internal injuries. He'd be up and moving if Vexen hadn't tied him to the bed until his blood sugar was fully sorted out."

Demyx stared at him in disbelief. "Did they not realize he was a Nobody or something?"

"Yeah...they did..." Roxas shuddered a little. "They'd had him chained up in a puny little cage, so he was up to his neck in water all the time. Instead of hitting him when they wanted him to tell them something, they just held his head underwater until he almost passed out."

"Oh, no..." Demyx whispered, his eyes wide. "That's awful...I could have handled that okay, but Axel..."

Roxas put a hand on his shoulder. "Demyx, he's okay. He hasn't taken any permanent damage. He's just having some trouble with his powers still."

"...Trouble? What kind of trouble?" Demyx asked warily. Normally, when Axel had "trouble" with his powers, that meant Demyx was supposed to be on hand ready to douse any "accidents" that might occur. With his sitar smashed to pieces, Demyx couldn't even give himself a drink when he wanted one.

"He can't use them as much as he's used to. They're a little slow coming back. He's not in danger of setting the castle on fire or anything...How are you?" Possibly the most pointless question possible, but for some reason it was the only thing Roxas could think of. Besides...well, vomiting blood was generally considered to be _not a good sign._

Demyx lay his head back on the pillow. "Still alive, assuming this qualifies...on different meds, that don't make me so sick...do you know what happened to Xigbar?"

Roxas gulped. He'd almost forgotten. "Yeah...when we were...back in Port Royal, trying to get Axel out of there...Zexion conjured up a big fake invasion force to distract everyone. Except the soldiers on the shore...they shot back with real bullets. Xigbar got hit. I don't know how bad it is - it could be really bad."

Demyx actually laughed weakly for five seconds before groaning and clutching his injured ribs. Roxas wondered for a moment what the new medicine was doing to his head. "I swear, the only thing that hurts worse than laughing with broken ribs is breaking them in the first place...Vexen stormed in here last night bitching about how Xigbar was being such a difficult patient. I didn't think anything of it at the time - he's a magnet for injury, as much as I am, except he usually does more to deserve it. If he's healthy enough to give Vexen a hard time, I don't think you have to worry about him."

"Good," Roxas said fervently. "Maybe Axel will quit biting his nails now." The two of them sat in silence for a few moments before Roxas spoke up hesitantly. "Are you...sure you're not any worse?"

Demyx nodded warily. "Yeah...why wouldn't I be sure?"

Roxas rolled his eyes. "In case it slipped your mind, you were puking blood last night."

"Oh...that..." Demyx stared at the wall. "That was from the other painkillers. Causing the bleeding. Or so Vexen says. It's why he was in such a hurry to change my meds."

Roxas nodded, wondering whether he should believe a word of it. Demyx wouldn't lie to cover his own guilt or get himself out of anything, but he'd certainly lie to make someone else feel better. "It is kind of...well, dramatic..."

Demyx waved his good hand. "Don't worry about me. I'll be all right."

Roxas took a seat next to him. "Put it this way. I'm not convinced. You look miserable."

Demyx sighed and explained, pausing every so often for breath. "All right - the new painkillers I'm on don't make me sick and don't fuck with my head like the other ones did, but they don't work as well at actually killing the pain, like they're meant to. I'm bored off my ass and lonely as hell most of the time, but when I actually have a visitor, like now, I'm too sore to be fit company, which doesn't make me feel any better. Even if my sitar wasn't still in bits and pieces, I couldn't play it, or any of my other instruments if they were in here and not under my bed - not with a broken arm. Can't even laugh, with broken ribs. It's like all I do anymore is eat, sleep, and stare at the wall while everyone else gets on with their lives. And I'm looking at weeks of this." He shook his head. "And...I can't help but remember how I got here...what happened in Port Royal...and...it's...it's still scary. I hate thinking about it, but I can't help it. Sorry - talk about a wet blanket. I bet you want to hear about anything but, considering what just happened to Axel."

"No, it's okay - you're bored, lonely, in pain, and went through hell recently. That excuses a lot." Demyx shrugged silently. Roxas sighed, sensing the conversation was a lost cause.

_Wait...know what he doesn't have that he probably needs and almost definitely really wants?_

Without bothering to explain himself, Roxas teleported down to Demyx's actual bedroom. It didn't take him long to find what he was looking for. He returned to the hospital room and handed a very surprised Demyx his MP3 player and headphones that could fit over his hearing aids. "Miss this at all?"

Demyx grinned as he tried to put the headphones on one-handed. "Did I ever...this is going to make it so much easier...I needed this..."

* * *

"Morning, dude. How's it goin'?" 

Axel nearly fell out of bed. "Xigbar?!"

The Freeshooter's arm was in a sling, and he was standing on the floor as opposed to the wall or the ceiling, but other than that, he seemed fundamentally intact. "You look a little surprised, dude - am I not supposed to be here or something?"

Axel swallowed hard. "Well - no - I mean - I'm glad to see you're still alive - that sounded stupid, didn't it -"

"...You sound confused."

"Confused? I guess I am..." Axel scratched his head, wondering how to continue. "Well - I knew you were hurt, but I had no idea how bad - for all I knew, you were at Death's door or something."

"Dude, I've knocked on his door and run away so often he doesn't want anything to do with me anymore. I wasn't even in the neighborhood this time. How are you holding up?"

"Well, um, fine, all things considered...just a little knocked around..."

"Well, that's good...just one thing, dude..." Xigbar leaned in close to him. "You go back to Port Royal, and no one, by which I mean no one, is gonna pull your ashes out of the pile a second time, got that memorized?"

"I wouldn't go back to Port Royal after my heart!" Axel said fervently. "I don't want anything to do with the damn place!"

"Good choice, dude. Good choice." Xigbar gave him a thumbs-up. "So how long before you're gonna be back on your feet?"

Axel shrugged. "Whenever Vexen says. I could just stand up and walk away anytime, but Vexen would pitch a hissy fit." He sighed. "You know what really pisses me off?"

"I suspect I'm gonna hear it anyway."

"They broke my insulin pump. I have to go back to injections until Vexen can get me a new one. I hate the injections."

Xigbar raised an eyebrow. "Is that what's buggin' you most?"

Axel unconsciously stroked the bandages around his throat. "Yeah."

"Bullshit."

"Huh?"

"Never mind."

"No, seriously, what?"

"Never mind, dude...see you when Vexen lets you go."

"...See you, I guess..." Axel waved weakly as Xigbar vanished, wondering what the hell he'd been talking about.

* * *

Demyx hadn't realized how much difference having some music to listen to made. It had barely been half an hour, and he was already feeling better overall than he had in a good long while, even considering. His mind was clearer. He felt calm, not just bored stiff. Everything seemed to hurt a little less now, including his stomach, which hadn't started hurting until last night. And he actually felt stronger and livelier, despite the combination of blood loss and not getting any sleep all night while Vexen panicked in a controlled, scientific way. 

_Though I gotta admit...I could still use some sleep..._

He tapped his fingers on the table, humming along softly. Yes, that was so much better. He'd almost fallen asleep when Axel cleared his throat loudly enough to be heard over the music. "You don't look as bad as I expected - has there been a dramatic turnaround, or was Roxas exaggerating?"

Demyx didn't turn his MP3 player off, he just turned the volume down. "Or you misinterpreted what he said. But he was kind enough to bring this up so I'd have something to listen to."

Axel nodded understandingly. "I get it. You were going into withdrawal, and now you're getting another hit." Demyx blinked in confusion. "The music."

"Bite me...how about you? You..." How was he supposed to finish that? You look better than I do? You didn't get tortured as badly as I expected? You're still alive?

Axel fingered the bandages around his throat. "I'm still alive. And not doing so bad, considering."

Demyx nodded warily, almost afraid to ask. Roxas hadn't mentioned them trying to cut Axel's throat or anything... "Well...that's good...I was afraid they'd do something truly horrendous to you." _Okay, there's my stupid statement for the day out of the way. I can talk a little more freely now._ "I thought Vexen wasn't letting you out for a while."

Axel smiled mischievously. "He kicked me out as soon as he had an excuse. Eight, your blood glucose is back to normal levels - get your ass outta here! It's not like he especially enjoys my company or anything, or vice versa."

"Well, that's good." _Lucky you,_ Demyx thought but didn't say.

Axel rubbed his bandaged wrists together, apparently without realizing it. "How about you? When can you escape?"

Demyx shook his head wearily. "Gonna be a while still, I think."

Axel frowned. "If you're stuck in here too long, you're gonna miss Christmas." Demyx shrugged. "Oh, for the love of...Don't give me this I-don't-really-care-about-Christmas crap. It's absolutely ridiculous that a guy like you wouldn't care about Christmas, got it memorized?"

"Axel -"

"Even Saïx cares more about Christmas than you do! Even Roxas cares more than you do, and he barely remembers what it's all about!" Axel shook his head. "I'm not even gonna ask how you came to be so indifferent to such an awesome holiday, but I am gonna see if I can get that fixed as soon as possible. Give me a few seconds." While Demyx wondered what the hell he had planned, Axel teleported away and returned with a stack of CDs and a CD player. "Stage one: Christmas carols. Give these a listen and report back." He left before he had the chance to see Demyx's face slowly turn from near-white to bright cherry red.

_I'm never gonna be able to explain this, am I._

* * *

AN: Fortunately, I think I'll be able to. Eventually. It's not so much that Demyx doesn't care, it's that he's deeply embarrassed. By the idea of celebrating Christmas? I do have a valid explanation... 

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, got it memorized?


	7. Sticks, Stones, Memories

Roxas couldn't believe his ears. "What do you mean, Demyx doesn't do Christmas?"

"Exactly what it sounds like, I'm afraid...I don't get what he objects to about it, probably never will, but I'm trying to cure him."

Roxas rubbed his forehead, still trying to wrap his head around the idea. "How?"

"Well, the quickest way to...that empty spot in his chest is with music, so I gave him a bunch of Christmas CDs and told him to listen to them."

"Are you sure that's not just going to annoy him?"

Axel snorted. "Annoy Demyx? It'll take a hell of a lot more than that. Besides, the only music I know of that annoys him is 'The Sitar Song'."

Roxas raised an eyebrow. "...That annoys him?"

Axel nodded. "Pisses him off no end. I know this from experience."

"Okay..." Roxas looked up at the ceiling. "So what else are you plotting? Decorating his room while he's still in the hospital?"

Axel shook his head. "I thought about it, but I wasn't hot on getting my room flooded. I might go up and decorate his hospital room, though."

Roxas gave him a look. "And getting your room flooded is somehow worse than drowning on the spot?"

That was the wrong thing to say. Axel shivered, unconsciously stroking the bandages around his throat. He shook his head and whispered something only he could hear.

"What did you say?" Axel sat down on his bed, apparently not seeing or hearing Roxas. "Oh, crap...I'm sorry..."

"Not your fault..." Axel murmured distractedly. "I'll be fine in a second..." He shuddered.

Roxas sat down next to him. "No, I shouldn't have reminded you."

Axel shook his head. "Gonna be kind of hard to avoid for a while...besides...I got off lucky, I guess...just...I can't quite shake it..."

"I'm sorry." They sat there in silence, Roxas in Axel's room, Axel in a little waterlogged cage in Port Royal.

After a few moments, Axel shivered again, and shook himself slightly. "Sorry about that...wanna go see if you can talk Vexen into making it snow this year?"

"...You want me to do _what?_"

"Talk Vexen into making it snow this year."

"Why me, if it was your idea?"

"Because Vexen hates my guts and wouldn't listen to a damn thing I said, probably up to and including 'I love you', as if I'd ever tell him that."

Roxas giggled. "You should. Just for the shock value."

Axel gaped at him in horror. "Kingdom Hearts on a hot dog bun, Rox, are you suddenly in a hurry to get me killed?"

"'Kingdom Hearts on a hot dog bun'? I'll have to remember that one..."

"Bah...scratch that idea. Would you rather bug Zexion about fruitcake or try to sneak into the kitchen and see if there's any eggnog in the fridge yet?"

"Eggnog's alcoholic, isn't it?"

"You don't have to drink it...and a word of warning, Zexion's less likely to kill you than Xaldin is."

"...You know, Ax, I could have figured that out for myself..."

"Awesome. Fruitcake it is. I'll go harass Ebenezer S. Beethoven and see if a heavy dose of Christmas carols has mellowed him any."

* * *

Demyx still couldn't bring himself to so much as open one of the CD cases Axel had brought him. He should have just told him his Other had died on Christmas Eve - which was true, but not the real reason he'd never feel comfortable celebrating the holiday. He should have just let Axel assume it was. 

_And he'd have left me alone, and no harm would have come of it...I should do that the next time he starts bugging me..._

After all, there were few things more awkward than trying to convince someone to celebrate a holiday which had very negative connotations for them. And the real reason always sounded so stupid when he tried to explain it, even to himself...

_It would be true. It just wouldn't be honest._

_I'm allowed to keep secrets._

_There's secrets, and there's misleading your friends._

_What he doesn't know won't hurt him! It's not his business anyway!_

_Then just tell him it's not his business whether or not you want to celebrate Christmas. It's not your holiday anyway. You have no business celebrating it, whether he insists you do or not._

_What, now you want me to play the religion card? I thought our old religions weren't supposed to mean anything now that we don't have hearts...  
_

_You don't have to mention religion if you don't feel like it. It's not his business. None of this is his business.  
_

_Okay, now how do I tell him that?_

_Try "Axel, it's not your business"._

_Is he going to listen to that?_

_Whether he does or not isn't your business._

_...That was a few too many repetitions of the phrase "not your business"._

_Then why in Kingdom Hearts's name don't you just tell him the reason?_

_...It's not his business._

"Afternoon, Dem - aw, crap, you're asleep." 

"I am not, I'm just having an interesting argument with the inside of my eyelids...is there something you want, or are you just here to bug me?"

Long pause, presumably accompanied by a blank stare from Axel. "...You're having an interesting argument with the inside of your eyelids - what about, may I ask?"

"Whether to actually answer you or keep pretending I'm asleep so you'll go away..." Demyx groaned and opened his eyes. "Is this more to do with Christmas? If it is, I should have kept pretending I was asleep."

"Well, your years-long refusal to celebrate baffles the hell out of me, got it memorized?"

"I think so, yes. Seeing as we've had this same conversation every. Damn. Year."

"Come on. There's got to be some valid reason you don't want anything to do with it."

_"Hey, Edmy, what'd Santa get you for Christmas?" The girl's tone suggested she knew very well what the answer would be, but they always delighted in hearing it every year. He'd tried explaining that his grandmother didn't celebrate Christmas, and there wasn't much money for gifts anyhow, but it never stopped them. It was part of the yearly ritual: drag selves back to school after break, whine about starting class again, show off new clothes, compare Christmas presents, torture Edmy. _

"Axel, it's not your business, okay?"

_"Oh, I forgot - Santa never gets Edmy anything because Santa doesn't visit ugly kids!" Just because his skin was dark as hot chocolate, instead of nice and pale to go with his blond hair and blue eyes, the rest of them called him ugly. Since he was the only one he knew who looked like that, he'd eventually come to agree with them. If he didn't look like everyone else, didn't that mean he really was ugly, like they said?_

"Did you at least listen to the CDs I gave you?"

_"Or crybabies!" "Or retards!" The rest of the kids pressed around him, and he backed away. He no longer bothered trying to separate the bullies from the non-bullies - to Edmy, they were all bullies. He didn't waste time trusting anybody who pretended to be his friend anymore; he knew from experience that oddballs like him didn't have friends, just bullies pretending they weren't bullies for a while so they'd get an even better chance to humiliate him._

"No - I have my MP3 player, why do I need CDs too?"

_"Shut up...I'm not a retard..." He spoke English as well as any of them, even though it wasn't his first language. But he just couldn't shake that accent. And it didn't help that when some of the biggest bullies were apparently in line for a second dose of academic brilliance, he'd been waiting at the door for the biggest helping of musical ability he could get. He knew there wasn't a single one of them who'd even know what a sitar was if you hit them over the head with one, much less how to actually play it, but that didn't help him right now._

"Are you just trying to make this as hard for me as possible?"

_"Well, you sure sound like one!" Followed by laughter, and some pathetic imitations of his accent. They were like knives in his ears. He backed away even further, struggling unsuccessfully to hold back the tears and wishing he was deaf so he wouldn't have to listen._

"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe I have a reason for doing so?"

_"Look, he's crying already...what a baby." He backed into the wall, wishing he dared just run away and call a teacher. But that wouldn't do anything to help him - none of the bullies had ever been punished beyond maybe a short, private lecture in the hall, and they always tormented him even worse afterwards - they'd add "whiner" and "tattletale" to "crybaby" and "retard", and maybe hard shoves and blows to insults and belittling. _

"Damn straight it has; I just wish you'd share it!"

_"Come on, let the little freak go cry by himself in a corner...wait 'till you see what my mom and dad got me..." And Edmy, the little freak who had no parents and got no presents, stood by himself and cried while the rest of them forgot he was even there.  
_

"...Axel, it is not your business. Got it memorized?"

"Fine! Fine! I give up! Just try and bring a little extra joy and cheer into your life, and I get my goddamn head bitten off! Have it your way, then - you can sulk all damn month if you want and see if I care!" Axel stormed out, with his hands in the air. He left the CDs behind.

Demyx stared at them for a long while. _Well, he's leaving me alone, which is what I wanted all along - but I don't think I won._

He slipped his headphones on, plugged them into the CD player, opened a case labeled "The Nutcracker", and put it in. _It can't hurt anymore..._

Though I'll be damned if it hurts any less...

* * *

AN: Poor little Edmy. He's a bully magnet. ;.; No wonder you could fit his self-esteem in a thimble and have room left over for three poppy seeds and Saïx's entire store of patience. 

Back in "A Little Problem", I established that Demyx's Other was half-white and half-Indian, and since his grandmother owned a sitar and knew how to play it, I assumed she was all-Indian. From that, I decided it was unlikely that she celebrated Christmas, since she probably wasn't Christian. And I'd already established that they didn't have a lot of money - Edmy was left to fend for himself on the street after she died. So - Edmy is funny-looking, shy, quiet, probably talks with an accent, definitely cares more about playing sitar than getting the right answer to a math question (and is therefore probably humiliated every time the teacher calls on him), and to top it all off, he never gets anything for Christmas. Where I come from, the other kids would have a field day making his life hell. Not all the other kids, but any at all can be more than enough.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, got it memorized?


	8. Not Even Cookies

Demyx eyed Roxas suspiciously. "Are you here to nag me on Axel's behalf?"

Roxas blinked in confusion. "No...should I be?"

"I hope not. And you can tell him thanks for the CDs, they're not bad, I'm still not sold." Demyx pretended to be irritated, but really, he was getting lonely. Axel hadn't been back to see him in four days, and Roxas had apparently been too busy to drop by for more than three minutes at a time. Which is why the first time he stuck around for longer, Demyx suspected ulterior motives.

"Demyx...what is your problem with Christmas?"

Demyx sighed. So much for not being here on Axel's behalf. "I'm going to tell you the same thing I told Axel - it's not your business." He rubbed his forehead - Vexen must not have been in; the room seemed too warm for some reason.

"We're really not out to get you - we're trying to help. Seriously."

Demyx groaned softly, feeling stiff and achy. Apparently it wasn't possible to get painkillers that wouldn't make him sick and dizzy and would still kill the pain. "I gotta admit, I don't consider it very helpful."

Roxas put an arm around his shoulder, or would have, if he hadn't been lying down. "Well, put it this way. Maybe you'd prefer it if we quit bugging you, but we wouldn't feel right leaving a friend alone over the holidays." His expression changed. "Are you...running a fever?"

_Well, now, isn't that just perfect._ Demyx groaned again. "I wouldn't be too surprised if I was. I've been feeling lousier than usual."

"Oh, that's just perfect..." Roxas sighed. "I'm going to try to run Vexen down. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone. Die, for instance."

"...Is it that high?!"

"No, I was just...never mind. Keep listening to 'The Nutcracker'; I'll go find Vexen." Roxas portaled away, and Demyx wondered if everything in the World that Never Was, from Axel to microbes, was out to get him at once.

* * *

"Axel? Where'd you get to?" Roxas had already checked Axel's own room and the kitchen, which seemed the two likeliest places. Now he was busily scanning the hallways for his red-headed friend. He finally heard Axel's voice down a corridor, but it didn't take him long to decide listening in would be more fun than interrupting. 

"Hey, Larx, look up...Yeah, it is...Do I seem like the kind of person who'd set you up with a mistletoe trap? Sounds more like Marly...I swear I had nothing to do with it...Kiss first, kick in the balls second, okay?...Awesome..." Pause. "Okay, now - ow!"

A few moments later, Axel appeared, walking upright, which Roxas hadn't exactly expected. "So, how are you still standing? Were you expecting this and wearing a cup?"

Axel did a double-take. "Uh...ah...what are you..."

"I heard you talking to Larxene. Under the mistletoe. 'Kiss first, kick in the balls second' - does that sound familiar?"

"Ah - no." Axel turned a little red. "She zapped me instead of kicking me."

"Was the kiss worth it?"

"I think so."

Roxas shook his head before remembering the whole reason he'd been looking for Axel in the first place. "Demyx is sick."

Axel rolled his eyes. "Oh, now that's just perfect. As if he wasn't deep enough in shit. It's like something's decided he's going to have the most miserable holiday possible. Even if he couldn't give less of a damn about it if he tried!...Please tell me it's nothing life-threatening." Pause. "Does that blank stare mean 'It is and I don't want to tell you' or 'I think you're going insane'?"

"...I don't actually think you're going insane, but I might suspect you're being a little paranoid."

Axel scratched his head. "You may have a point. I assume that means it's something minor?"

"I'm led to assume so."

Axel shook his head. "Oh, well...up for a kitchen raid? There will be cookies."

"...What kind of cookies?"

"Depends what we can get away from Zexion, or alternatively, what he'll give us so we go away."

* * *

"Would the two of you - augh!" Zexion looked about ready to start throwing knives at them, as Axel kept him distracted while Roxas loaded his pockets with cookies. He took a deep breath. "Eight, I hope you remember you're not supposed to eat off-schedule anymore, especially something so sugary as holiday cookies, now that you don't have an insulin pump." 

Axel's face fell. "Oh, shit...you're right...damn it." How could he have forgotten that? He'd gotten so used to the freedom the pump provided... He wandered out of the kitchen, scuffing the white floors deliberately and muttering curses under his breath.

_Now there's a holiday mood-killer for you. One of your friends is being an ass about the whole process, and he's in the hospital anyway, and now you can't even eat cookies. What's next? Is Roxas gonna slip on an icy patch and break a leg, or is he going to decide to spend the whole day with Naminé and leave me to fend for myself?_

He heard Roxas running up behind him. "Sorry you now have twice as many cookies as we actually need."

"Bleh. One of us should have remembered sooner."

Axel kicked a wall, leaving a black mark on the white surface. "It's a damn pain in the ass, got it memorized? Guess Demyx isn't the only one getting all the joy sucked out of the holiday season - not like he had a lot in the first place...My foot hurts now."

"You know...kicking the wall may not have been the best idea you ever had..."

"Yes, I know that now." Axel sighed. "I need to go cause some virtual explosions and kill some computer-generated bad guys now."

"Xbox or PS3?"

"Xbox, definitely. I want to have an actual chance."

"We don't have to play against each other; we could play something cooperative..." Roxas suggested as they portaled down to Axel's room.

Axel shrugged. "I guess."

"All right...get something started while I go put these cookies away before they all crumble up in my pockets." Axel nodded distractedly as he set up a game.

* * *

_It's never been this bad before..._

Demyx sighed and stared at the ceiling, like he'd been doing for well over a week. _But before, I guess, I was always alone because I wanted to be alone...not because I'd been left alone...and I always had something to do, not just...lie here feeling like shit...which is the only thing I can do anymore..._

_I am so sick of this. I wish I could get out of here._

He sighed again - it wasn't like he had anything better to do, or anyone to talk to. _If Axel could see me now, he'd accuse me of sulking all month like he said. Of course, that's assuming he'd actually set foot in here, and he's not still steaming over me telling him it wasn't his business whether or not I celebrated Christmas._

_Well, I hope he and Roxas have fun. Tons of comfort and joy to them, and all that._

_I want out of here so bad..._

He stared blankly at his MP3 player and the CD player and CDs Axel had left him. _I'm tired of listening to other people's music...but I have no way to write or play any of my own...I guess I could write on my cast if I had to - actually, that would look kind of cool - but I have nothing to write with..._

_Why didn't I tell him? Why didn't I at least give him an excuse? Why did I have to piss him off with that "not your business" shit?_

He shifted slightly, aggravating aches and pains he'd forgotten about until now. _This...is...ridiculous. I can't even sit up comfortably._ Eventually, lacking anything better to do, he fell asleep.

He dreamed of being back in his home city - not in school, being tormented by bullies, but later, after his grandmother died and he'd more-or-less stopped going to school. This was while he was living on the streets, eking out a living playing sitar on busy corners and hoping generous or appreciative passerby would drop something into the open instrument case next to him. During the summer, he could make enough to keep himself fed, clothed, and maybe half-decently sheltered, but over the winter - which is where in time he was now - potential donors were less frequent and often less generous. If he could find himself a spot in a busy mall, where security wouldn't chase him out and it wasn't so noisy no one could hear him play, he could make as much on a very good winter day as on a summer day, but those times were few and far between, and he hadn't had any such luck in weeks. As if to rub it in, an icy night wind started blowing, whipping up the snowdrifts around the sidewalks and ensuring his ragged jacket and well-worn sweatshirt didn't do a thing to keep him warm. His blue jeans and battered tennis shoes were already hopeless in that respect.

The wind kept howling ever more fiercely, and it started to snow in earnest instead of merely blowing around what had already fallen. Before long, he started shivering. _If I don't get out of the wind, I'm gonna freeze._ But on Christmas Eve, most public buildings had already closed for the holiday, and he didn't know of any homeless shelters near enough to be any help. The buses had stopped running early, and a quick check of his pockets revealed he didn't have enough for cab fare across town, assuming any cab would have picked him up.

_I gotta find someplace out of the wind, quick..._ He kept walking, fighting the wind every step of the way, and shortly after his ears quit hurting from the cold and went completely numb, he finally came to the bridge. Not caring that it was technically illegal, he quickly scrambled down underneath it, grateful for what shelter it could provide. He'd intended to only stay there until the wind quit blowing so hard and he could keep going towards more adequate shelter. But the night only grew colder, and his eyelids were getting so heavy...He took his sitar out of its case, trying to keep himself awake by playing it, but his fingers were so numb from the cold he could barely move them at all, much less play. Instead, he simply clung to the sitar as the wind intensified and the snow blew around him, and he couldn't stay awake any more...at least he wasn't so cold now...somehow he was wrapped in a beautiful warm blanket, like he'd dreamed about on so many cold nights before...was that a cat, with those glowing yellow eyes...?

As the cold finally won out, and his breathing stopped, it hopped up onto his knee and started pawing earnestly at his chest.

Demyx woke up crying from the memory of his own death.

* * *

"I don't get why he has to be such an ass about it!" Axel complained. "If he wasn't interested, he could have just said 'Axel, I'm not interested', and I might have left him alone, but no, he's gotta be a prick..." 

Roxas didn't mention that Demyx probably had tried the "Axel, I'm not interested" route more than once, to no avail. He knew Axel wasn't looking for conversation so much as someone he could complain to without having them complain right back. Which service he was usually happy to provide, though it was starting to grind on his nerves. "Is there some reason this is bugging you so much?" he asked, in as neutral a tone as possible.

Axel sighed. "It's just so ridiculous that Mr. Sunshine and Gigglefarts has no use for Christmas. He's got a damn good reason, I know he does, he just won't say what it is for love or munny." He snorted. "Pisses me off a little."

"You know...I could tell." Axel snorted again. "It is his business, you've got to admit."

"It's...just...so...not...like...him..."

"Are you paying any attention to this game at all?"

"...Not really," Axel admitted. He focused on the Xbox again, and he and Roxas played in silence, or at least with no conversation that didn't involve the game, which hardly qualified as silence. To the casual listener, it would have sounded more like a diss war to the Halo soundtrack.

Eventually, Roxas found himself unable to keep from yawning. "All right, it's been fun teaching you how to play, but I'm wiped out now."

"Teaching me how to play? When you could barely figure out how to use your controller - you're too used to the PS3...all right, go to bed. Merry Christmas, a day early."

* * *

AN: Poor Demyx is gonna be all alone, hurt, sick, and miserable, in the hospital on Christmas...or is he? Find out next chapter...I may even have time to write it, though I wouldn't bet anything I couldn't afford to lose on that possibility...I promise next chapter will be lighter...hearted? Lighter-souled...

And I promise I will never again describe Demyx as Mr. Sunshine and Gigglefarts. Axel, however, can't say the same.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, got it memorized?


	9. So This Is Christmas

"Merry Christmas, Rox!"

"Axel, if I wake up and find mistletoe over my door, they're gonna be cleaning your blood out of the hallway for weeks," Roxas muttered. He'd had some very freaky dreams last night, and he was barely conscious, so that made sense to him.

It didn't to Axel. "..._The hell?!_"

Roxas sat up and brightened the room, rubbing his eyes. "Morning, Ax...and Merry Christmas, I guess...what are you doin' up so early?"

"In case you've forgotten, I've temporarily returned to the inconvenience of a tightly controlled schedule of injections...and why the hell would I put mistletoe over your door? For whose benefit? Naminé's?"

"Now that I'm more like fully awake, that's a good question..." Roxas groaned and rolled out of bed. "I'm sure it made sense when I said it."

"Well...probably..." Axel shrugged. "If I don't get breakfast in about five minutes, I'm going to keel over from low blood sugar, so, see you at breakfast." He disappeared, leaving Roxas to shower, dress, and haul himself down to the kitchen.

No mission assignments were being handed out, and no one was missing on a long assignment - their schedules had been arranged so that everyone would have Christmas off (except Vexen, but that was pure bad luck on his and Demyx's part). Breakfast that morning was something Roxas had never seen before - it was a kind of custardy bread pudding with berries in it. Whatever it was, it was good - Zexion was showing his face at a communal meal for probably the first time Roxas knew of, just to get some of it. And there was eggnog being offered to drink, to which Axel helped himself willingly. "Don't drink too much of that," Roxas cautioned.

"Xaldin's not gonna offer the alcoholic version at breakfast," Axel said. "Go ahead; have some yourself. It's good with this berry whatsit."

"I was just thinking about what it might do to your blood sugar." Axel glared at him venemously.

* * *

Demyx didn't have very much appetite, but he picked more enthusiastically at the berry pudding than he'd really meant to. It was much better than the usual breakfast he got. Granted, he always got the same breakfast as everyone else, just a little older and a little colder, but this stuff was good. 

_That must mean it's Christmas,_ he realized. He tried to convince himself that that meant nothing more special to him this year than any other, but for some reason, the knowledge of what day it was made his eyes sting briefly.

_Guess that means I shouldn't expect to see Axel or Roxas today...hope they have fun...doing...whatever it is they're going to be doing today..._

He sighed. _Well, maybe tomorrow we'll get back into the old routine, at least until I can get out of here._ For now, he'd enjoy some better food than usual and try to forget how alone he felt.

* * *

"Come on, just go back to your room, and wait there for a minute." Roxas would have been in a better position to argue if he'd had any idea what in Kingdom Hearts's name Axel was planning, but he didn't, so he wasn't. All he could do was exactly what he'd been told: go back to his room and wait while Axel went and...did whatever he was going to do. 

Axel was grinning hugely and a little nervously as he teleported back to his own room and retrieved a carefully-wrapped package. _If he doesn't like this, I am going to feel so, so stupid..._

He steeled himself and portaled back to Roxas's room with it. "Merry Christmas, Rox...hope you like it..."

Roxas blinked in surprise before accepting the package. "Thanks, Axel..."

"Don't thank me until you open it," Axel muttered. He couldn't figure out why he was so nervous. _Probably because for the past four years, the one guy you liked well enough to buy a gift for was the guy who never wanted anything to do with Christmas, and you're afraid you're out of practice?_

Roxas carefully peeled the paper off. "'Empire Souls II'," he read off the box.

Axel nodded. "Yeah, it's the latest game from Circle Nexi - the people who made those 'Ultimate Dream' games you like so much...well, the latest series, I guess; there's obviously a prequel, though I guess you don't need the prequel to play this one..."

"Well, with a track record like that..." Roxas smiled slyly. "I think I know what I'll be doing while you tear my room apart looking for your gift."

For the next few hours, Roxas played Empire Souls II while Axel searched for anything in a brightly wrapped package. "Is it actually in your room, or did you stash it in the empty room next door?"

"I can't get in there, doofus...besides, it's empty, which would make it kind of short of good hiding places..."

Finally, Axel managed to locate not one, but two wrapped packages. Feeling pretty pleased with himself, he asked, "Hey, Rox, how are you holding out?"

"I'd like to beat this Myde prick with his own shamisen," Roxas snarled. "He's supposed to be an easy boss, but he keeps kicking my ass all over the place..."

Axel couldn't quite hold back a laugh. "Game's got you by the collar, hasn't it."

* * *

Demyx found himself tracing notes on the bedside table, wishing he had some way to write them down permanently. _It's okay. Really. It's just another day in the recovery room, just with better food. I can just pretend Axel and Roxas are gone on missions, not ignoring me. Whatever they're doing, they're probably having a blast...I bet they'll tell me all about it tomorrow...wait, wasn't I pretending they were gone on missions?_

_This isn't working._

He sighed and hummed the music that was playing itself in his head. He didn't want to admit it to himself, but it drew a lot of inspiration from the Christmas carols Axel had made him listen to. They also brought back memories of what should have been happier times that were somehow never really happy.

_"What child is this, who -" He only heard the music in snatches as the shop door opened and closed. All the shops along this stretch were crowded with people taking advantage of steep Christmas discounts, or simply escaping from family and home for a few hours. The year before, he'd stationed himself on the bench outside the door and played, looking lonely, underfed, and generally in need of charity, and earned himself a decent amount. This year...well, he'd tried. But it hadn't worked out. He was too sick to play, and getting sicker._

* * *

"Finally!" Roxas exclaimed as Myde finally screamed and collapsed onscreen, fading into pixelly mist. "Thought I'd never beat him!" 

Axel checked the clock. "Just in time for lunch; wasn't that nice of him?"

Roxas glanced up. "It's not quite time for lunch yet..."

"Time for my shot, though. See you there." Axel portaled back to his room, leaving both wrapped packages unopened on Roxas's bed.

_"- who, laid to rest, on Mary's lap is sleeping..."_ He shook his head, wondering why that song had suddenly popped into his head while he was sticking his finger for a blood glucose test.

Unzip robe, drop pants, sit down, stick needle in thigh, inject insulin - a routine he was so familiar with he barely needed to think about it anymore; he could let his mind wander freely. But where was it taking him?

_"Whom angels greet, with anthems sweet -" It was the first Christmas after his little brother's death. You'd never be able to tell his parents had recently lost a child, he thought angrily, but damn, did it cut him deep. He'd made some excuse about a party in the city just to get out of the house; his parents didn't bother to ask for specifics about where he was going and when he'd be back. Which was good, because he didn't know himself. He found himself wandering outside a row of shops packed with post-holiday bargain hunters, trying to lose his thoughts in the noise - chattering shoppers, squeaking doors, ringing bells, snatches of canned music, and from somewhere nearby - coughing? Very violent coughing..._

* * *

_I need to get that song out of my head,_ Demyx thought. He switched his headphones back to his MP3 player, hoping listening to something that had nothing to do with Christmas would help. But the memory kept intruding, forcing itself between his mind and the music. 

_Every time he breathed too deeply, or too quickly, or took a breath of cold air, he started coughing, and when he started coughing, it felt like he'd never stop. There was no use trying to play for money; no one would want to get anywhere near him. No one would want anything to do with him. Instead, he'd crawled into a narrow, dark alley between two shops and hid, racked by coughing fits so violent they made him vomit, and gasping loudly for breath after each one. He was one asthma attack from a body bag, assuming anyone ever found him. He assumed no one would - until the brown-haired boy came._

* * *

"Axel, are you okay? You look distracted." 

Axel rubbed his forehead. "I guess I am..."

_The boy hiding in the alley didn't stop coughing until he finally doubled over and threw up on the pavement, then gasped with a loud whooping sound. He looked up at him with fear in his sea-blue eyes, as if he expected to be chased away. Well, just going by the look of him, he was probably used to getting chased out of places - he probably wasn't the original owner of a single article of clothing he was wearing, or of whatever was in the instrument case he wouldn't let go of. Wherever this kid's parents were, they probably hadn't had a ton of cash to spare for Christmas, if any - hell, apparently they couldn't even get him to a doctor. He was an odd-looking little guy - dark skin, blond hair, blue eyes, with a desperate, forsaken look that would make his parents call the police to get the little street rat out of there and back to the bad side of town, where he belonged._

Axel took another less-than enthusiastic bite of lunch. Distracted he was - why could he suddenly not get this memory out of his head?

_He ran his fingers through his reddish-brown hair - it wouldn't turn bright red until after he lost his heart. The important part was, this kid was years younger than he was - thirteen, maybe fourteen at the outside - and _sick_; if he didn't get any help, like he apparently hadn't before now, odds were he wouldn't see summer. "I'm calling an ambulance, kid," he finally said._

He set his fork down on his plate and picked the plate up, along with his drink. "You know, I don't feel like eating in the kitchen right now..."

Roxas shrugged, trying to conceal his surprise. "Fine...where would you rather eat?"

* * *

Demyx was only picking at his own lunch. It wasn't like he had much of an appetite, even if his mind hadn't been somewhere else altogether. 

_He looked up in surprise. "An - an ambulance? Not the police?" He'd had people summon the police to get him out of places where street trash like him weren't good enough to be, but...a complete stranger - a complete rich stranger, going by the expensive shoes and designer jacket - calling for help, for him... _

_The other boy rolled his bright green eyes. "Of course an ambulance, not the police! What the hell would I call the police for? You just stay there; I'll see if they'll let me use the store phone to call 911. Left my cell phone home." He nodded; it wasn't like he had anywhere else to go. He curled up against the cold brick wall, hugging his sitar and hoping the older boy wasn't just pulling his leg. He didn't quite believe what was happening until he heard the sirens - they didn't sound like police sirens._

The door opened, and he was suddenly dragged back to the present. Axel and Roxas walked in, both carrying full plates. "Thought you could use a little company," Axel said. Demyx couldn't help but smile.

_The brown-haired boy emerged from the shop as the ambulance pulled up, and watched silently as he was loaded into it, and the EMTs tried unsuccessfully to make him let go of his sitar case. It wasn't until almost the last possible moment when he finally asked his savior: "What's your name?"_

* * *

"Getting a little lonely, were you?" Axel grinned as he started eating again. For some reason, lunch was tasting better now. 

_He couldn't help but smile. "My name's Lea - that's L-E-A, got it memorized? Not L-E-E!"_

_The sick boy smiled back. Boy, that was a freaky hairstyle he had; why on God's green earth was he only just noticing it? Well, Lea would probably never forget it now... "L-E-A...think I got it...my name's..."_

* * *

_He didn't think he'd ever forget those fiery green eyes. "...My name's Edmy," he answered, just before the ambulance doors swung closed._

Demyx laughed briefly before his broken ribs made a serious protest. "How the hell did it take six years to put it together?"

Axel stared in surprise. "What the - what are you - the hell - you..."

Roxas stared at both of them. "...Is there something going on that I don't know about?"

Axel shook his head. "I da- I don't know - I've had this...memory from my Other's life bugging me since just before lunch...and I...Demyx, you..."

"Finally connected the dots? I don't know why it took so long; it was probably the first nice thing anyone ever did for me on Christmas..."

"You...had...same...thoughts..."

Demyx's eyes suddenly widened as he figured out why Axel was so freaked out. "I...guess so...that is...strange..."

Roxas sighed in exasperation. "Would one of you be so kind as to let me in on the secret?"

Axel and Demyx looked at each other and shrugged. "This is gonna be a long story..."

* * *

AN: What did Roxas get Axel? And why were there two packages? Mostly to get me to write another chapter... 

Poor Demyx has been getting his chain yanked by sad memories the last couple chapters. This one isn't so sad. Also: 8D Axel with his pants down. XD

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, got it memorized? Also, merry Christmas.


	10. Free At Last

"His eyes, they closed, and his last breath spoke, he had seen all to be seen, a life once full now an empty vase, wilt the blossoms on his early grave..."

Axel rubbed his eyes. The stereo with built-in alarm clock had been a smart choice of gift on Roxas's part - he wasn't breaking into Demyx's empty room to "borrow" his stereo anymore, and he finally had an alarm clock that didn't go up in flames on its first use. However, "What's Left of the Flag" probably wasn't the best song ever to wake up with. He didn't turn it off as he went into the bathroom to deal with his daily routine - another first.

"So, torch the stereo yet?" Roxas joked at breakfast.

Axel shook his head. "It's my first alarm clock to last more than one morning."

Roxas pretended to do a spit-take. "Dear, sweet Kingdom Hearts - Axel let an alarm clock live!"

"Bite me..." Roxas snapped his teeth at him. "Not literally, doofus. You're punchy today."

"Despite being told I'm incapable of feeling anything by people who should know and apparently don't, I'm in a good mood this morning."

Axel raised an eyebrow. "Well, you always enjoy giving me grief - did you finally beat Empire Souls or something?"

Roxas rolled his eyes. "No. It has nothing to do with that."

"Does it have to do with that mysterious other package I found and you wouldn't explain?"

Roxas carefully looked in a different direction. "Maybe."

"Does it have something to do with why you disappeared for most of Christmas afternoon?"

"...Maybe."

Axel nodded with mock solemnity. "What did that other package contain? Art supplies, perhaps?"

"...You know what? Bite me." Axel snapped his teeth at him. "Not literally..."

"You started that," Axel muttered.

Roxas pretended he hadn't heard it. "Luxord's still not back...where do you think he is?"

"On a three-day bender, the same as every Christmas. I wasn't expecting him to be back yet."

"...How in Kingdom Hearts's name does one remain drunk for three days for purely recreational purposes?"

"Wow, you must be surprised; you sounded like Zexion there. And to answer your question...I can't answer your question, because I've never done it before. You'll have to ask Luxord what the appeal is, if and when he sobers up."

"Once he sobers up, he'll be dealing with the grandmother of all hangovers, won't he?"

"Probably, and frankly, it serves him right. I never thought I'd say this, but I feel a little sorry for Marly, because his room is right next to Luxord's, and...drunk Luxord means time does really strange things in his area. I wonder how long it's going to take him to get to breakfast - or maybe he's already eaten it and left and he was moving so fast I didn't even see him." Axel paused. "You know whose absence is really bothering me - Vexen's."

Roxas nearly choked. "You think something's up with Demyx?"

"That or Luxord has finally given himself a severe case of alcohol poisoning...considering what his tolerance level must be by now, I don't even wanna guess how much booze that would take." Axel shook his head. "Maybe I'm just paranoid. Maybe Vexen just overslept."

Roxas raised an eyebrow. "Do you think Vexen can oversleep?"

Axel took a deep breath. "Well...I think it's unlikely any of his alarm clocks have met an icy death just for going off." He sighed. "I'll check up on him after I check my blood glucose. If he has gone downhill suddenly, Vex'll probably want as few visitors in at once as possible."

* * *

While Axel was in the bathroom testing his blood glucose after breakfast, he listened carefully to the other door - the one that led to Demyx's room. _I can hear music in there...like someone's got the stereo on...I know for a damn fact I turned his off last time I was in there..._

Curiosity got the best of him, and he opened the door. Demyx was sitting on his bed, cradling his broken arm and looking around like he was trying to reorient himself. "...Demyx?! You finally got out? When'd Vexen spring you?"

Demyx nearly fell off the bed with surprise. "...Just a few minutes ago...once Vexen decided it was safe to escort me back to my room without me being unable to stand upright for five seconds without keeling over or something."

"So you're allowed to actually stand up and walk now?"

Demyx nodded. "As long as I take it easy, obviously." He stood up to demonstrate. "I'm still a little shaky - I blame all the enforced bed rest. I haven't stood up on my own in two weeks. You would not believe how stiff my legs were when I started this morning."

Axel shrugged. "I only got stuck in there overnight," he said, fingering the fading red lines on his throat.

Demyx noticed. "Ax, I've been meaning to ask...what'd they do to your neck?" he asked quietly.

Axel shuddered slightly and took a deep breath. He was trying to decide whether to go ahead and tell him, no matter how much thinking about it disturbed him, or make some excuse and try to force the whole experience out of his mind for another little while, when he realized there was a third option. "I'll tell you if you explain what the hell your issue with Christmas is."

Demyx sighed heavily and closed his eyes. Axel had just about decided he was going to let the subject drop when he spoke again. "My Other never celebrated Christmas. My grandmother wasn't Christian, and we didn't exactly have a ton of extra cash anyway. And...I always caught hell from the other kids at school for it, among other things. And...just to top it all off, my Other died on Christmas Eve."

Axel could feel his face turning red. If he'd explained that a little earlier... "Among other things? What other things?"

"Your turn to talk."

Axel swallowed hard. "It's from the chains."

Demyx's eyes flew open. "Oh...I'm sorry...if I'd known, I..."

"Would never have asked - because you'd have already known and wouldn't need to." Axel shook his head. "Compared to what they did to you, it's nothing. You can stop feeling sorry for me any time now."

"I told you not to go back, dammit -" Demyx was shivering slightly too.

"I know." The room was silent, except for the music on the stereo. Demyx eventually hauled himself all the way onto the bed and lay down, as if he was intending to go to sleep. "Are you gonna start showing up for meals again?"

Demyx shrugged. "Good question. Depends how sore I am, I guess."

"You know, you might still be able to get some breakfast; I don't think it's too late yet..."

Demyx waved a hand. "I already ate before coming down here. I'm good." He sighed. "I never realized what a great room this was before. It's nice to be back." Axel nodded, and Demyx reached into the air. There was a sound like a large bubble popping, and suddenly his bed was littered with the broken fragments of his sitar - fist-sized chunks of wood and metal, now, instead of minute splinters. It was possible to guess what its original shape was, now. Demyx smiled faintly. "It's putting itself back together." He fingered his broken ribs carefully, smiling a little more broadly. "So am I."

* * *

AN: Funny, the shortest chapter thus far is the one that took me longest to write. I guess it's because we're out of "action" mode and into "recovery" mode. Any more chapters are probably going to be pretty short too. I might even take the opportunity to introduce an OC later. :o

So, after writing the first three lines, I went to my Flogging Molly radio station on and the first song that starts playing is "What's Left of the Flag". It's always made all kinds of sense to me that Axel is a Flogging Molly fan.

Holy sheeyit, I forgot the legal stuff! I don't own Kingdom Hearts, got it memorized? And I don't own "What's Left of the Flag", either; that belongs to Flogging Molly.


	11. Just A Little Unwell

"Hey, Rox - come here! There's something really funny I want to show you!"

Roxas sighed. "Axel, I'm about two minutes away from the next boss battle, and I don't want to lose my concentration..."

Axel rolled his eyes. "You're gonna make me sorry I ever got you that game...come on, a break won't hurt anything. Seriously. Besides, there's something really funny I want you to see."

Roxas shook his head and paused the game. "If it's not side-splitting hilarious or mind-bogglingly odd, I'm not interested."

"Rox...come on. Just take it on faith that whatever I want to show you, you'll find interesting."

Roxas raised an eyebrow. "Pictures of Larxene naked?"

"...If I had any of those, I'd be damned if I'd let that information go public. I like my manhood exactly where it is, got it memorized? Besides, I thought you and Naminé -"

"I'm just going by what I think you would consider interesting." Roxas set his controller down and stood up. "So, where is this interesting thing you think I absolutely have to see?"

"Just follow me," Axel said. He led Roxas back down the hallways and into his own room. "First - listen closely. Do you hear anything?"

Roxas listened. He could hear something that sounded like an instrument playing - slow and pretty clumsy, and it definitely didn't sound like a stereo. "Don't tell me Demyx is trying to play with a cast on his arm," he muttered quietly, "because if he is, I wouldn't find that funny. Sad and a little pathetic, yes, but not funny."

"Oh, for..." Axel sighed with exasperation. "That's not it, you idiot!" He motioned Roxas into the bathroom. The other bathroom door, which led into Demyx's room, was slightly ajar. "Take a look," he whispered.

Roxas peeked into Demyx's room warily. Demyx was seated on his bed, apparently unaware that he was being watched. He was gleefully conducting something or someone Roxas couldn't see at the angle he was looking at. "Okay...what's he doing?" he whispered to Axel.

Axel tugged on his shirt. "Come this way a little," he whispered. "You might be able to see better."

Roxas moved over slightly. Now he could see a little further into the room. There was an odd-looking instrument on the floor, or at least he assumed it was a stringed instrument of some kind; he didn't know what-all instruments Demyx might own and know how to play. He did know that the lesser Nobodies, including Dancers, didn't usually play instruments of any kind. "...The hell is he doing? Is he actually trying to teach a Dancer to play that thing?"

"Not trying to teach. I think he's actually succeeded in teaching it. It's not nearly half the musician he is, but hey, you gotta admire the effort."

"Why would he do something like that?"

"Because he's Demyx and it makes sense to him? I dunno...I gotta admit it's never occurred to me to teach an Assassin to do anything but fight." Axel craned his neck for a look. "Well, he definitely seems to be enjoying himself."

Roxas couldn't see Demyx anymore, but he sensed something was up when he heard him say "Uh...Dancer, go open the bathroom door..." Roxas promptly bolted back for Axel's room, but Axel, who hadn't heard Demyx say anything, reacted too late and got dragged off by his hood before he could make an escape. "Axel, what the hell are you doing? Dancer, let go of him before you strangle him..."

"Um...Demyx...hi...how are you?"

"I was better when I thought I had some privacy and there wasn't anybody listening in at the door...Roxas, I know you're still hiding in Axel's room. Get in here. What the hell were you two doing?"

"How the hell'd you train a Dancer to play a...um...an...anything?"

"It's a koto, dipshit. Roxas, get in here before I sic more Dancers on you." Sensing that doing as Demyx said was preferable to being dragged away by Dancers, Roxas edged nervously into Demyx's room. "Did this moron drag you into it? What were you plotting?"

"Plotting? We weren't plotting anything, I swear..."

"Then what were you doing?"

"Just listening..." Roxas said.

Demyx glared at both of them. "Yeah, because a Dancer playing koto is that interesting, is it?"

"It is to us - we didn't know any of them were even that smart!"

Demyx rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Why shouldn't they be? If they're supposed to have the brainpower to stay alive in a fight - hell, I don't even have that, and I can play just fine, under normal circumstances."

Axel held up a hand. "Okay, two things. First, the lesser Nobodies were made to fight, not play instruments; you were apparently made to play instruments, not fight. Second, stop knocking your own intelligence; you're not stupid, and it gets annoying."

"This from a guy who calls me 'idiot' at least as often as he uses my actual name?"

"Sticks and stones, Dem; it's all fun and games as long as nobody gets hurt...can the Dancer go? It's making me nervous." Axel glanced around nervously, as Demyx and Roxas were both glaring at him. "O-kay, what did I just say wrong?"

"Oh, maybe it had to do with the part about 'it's all fun and games as long as _Nobody_ gets hurt'..."

Axel scratched his head. "Right. Poor word choice on my part. Sorry."

Demyx sighed and opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, but didn't. He sighed again, shaking his head. "I know I was going to say something, but I let my mind wander for five seconds and I forgot what it was."

"It wouldn't have had anything to do with 'get out of my room or _Nobody will_ get hurt', would it?"

"I'm not the one who resorts to violence by default, remember. Besides, what the hell could I do? Rox, are you trying to sneak out?"

"Well, I was, since I didn't seem to have any large part in the conversation...why? Is there some reason I should stay?"

Demyx shook his head and waved his good hand. "No. You might as well go, I guess. Ax, you too...I have a headache."

Axel and Roxas looked at each other as they walked out. Maybe Demyx was claiming a headache, but he'd been running his fingers over his broken ribs.

* * *

Demyx sighed and buried his face in his pillow. "Dancer...shoo." He didn't have to look to be sure he was now completely alone in his room. 

Why the hell had Axel used that particular phrase? Of course, it's not like he could have known...though he should have been able to guess, at least...well, when it came to stupid word choices, Axel was an expert...

_(It's all fun and games, lads - 'cause whatever we do, Nobody's gonna get hurt!) _ Followed closely by another boot in the ribs, and the sensation of something else giving way inside. He hadn't heard the words, only read them off the man's lips, but he could imagine the voice - loud and rough, probably slurred by alcohol, and accompanied by guffaws. A tear trickled down onto the pillow, and he didn't care enough to stop it. All he'd wanted at the time was to die before it got any worse.

_If they didn't think I could feel pain, why did they have so much fun hurting me?_

He clenched his good hand into a fist. _Fuck, they're not done yet. Three weeks after the fact, they're a million miles away, and they've still got me crying into my pillow when I'm alone in my room._

They're not gonna rescue me - I know they're looking for me, but they have no idea what's happening - they'll never find me in time -

Kingdom Hearts, Demyx, get a grip. They did find you. You were rescued. Three fucking weeks ago.

He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. _This isn't helping. Am I losing my mind here?_

Eventually, he hauled himself off the bed and switched his stereo on, not bothering to put the koto away - he could always do that later. Right now, he was seeking some comfort and inspiration.

"All day, starin' at the ceiling, makin' friends with shadows on the wall..." Oh, what a wonderful song _that_ was to play. It suited his mood, but it was only going to encourage it. "All night, hearin' voices tellin' me that I should get some sleep because tomorrow might be good for something..."

His fingers hovered over the "skip" button, but for some reason, he didn't press it. "Hold on - I'm feeling like I'm headed for a breakdown - I don't know why..."

Giving in to the inevitable, he sat down on his bed and sang along softly. "I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell - I know, right now you can't tell, but stay a while and maybe then you'll see a different side of me...I'm not crazy, I'm just a little impaired - I know, right now you don't care..."

The rest of the song went unheard as he walked out of the room, leaving the stereo playing. "But soon enough, you're gonna think of me and how I used to be..."

Neither Axel nor Roxas bothered to ask him why he'd suddenly showed up in Roxas's room, though Axel did ask if that didn't hurt. Demyx just shrugged and sat down, silently watching the two of them beat each other up onscreen. Having a little company made things seem less awful, somehow.

* * *

AN: Do Nobodies get PTSD? Guess so... 

This all started with the image of Demyx teaching a Dancer to play koto. I wonder if Axel's going to try to teach Assassins how to do basic housecleaning next.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, got it memorized? I don't own "Unwell", either; that belongs to Matchbox 20.


	12. Snowballin'

_Didn't someone say once that a good working definition of Hell was a perpetual holiday?_

Left on his own, without any broken bones or other serious injuries, Demyx was rarely short of things to do - play sitar, play guitar, play violin, play any of his other instruments, play Guitar Hero, compose, listen to his stereo, waterbend, bug Axel or Roxas, read, even cook. With his right arm in a cast, he was mostly down to composing and listening to his stereo - Axel and Roxas weren't on the disabled list and weren't around every day, he wouldn't be able to use his powers effectively until his sitar finished repairing itself, and it was kind of hard to hold a book open one-handed and still read it. But he was reluctant to listen to his stereo for too long - Vexen had speculated once that his hearing loss was due to constant exposure to loud music, and the thought had haunted him ever since. And as for composing - well, that had been an easy way to keep himself occupied for a while; letting the music write itself in his head so he could write it down on paper. But yesterday, something had happened to him that he'd never experienced before. The music had stopped writing itself. His creative well had run dry.

_Inspiration. I need inspiration._

From where? Not the stereo; even if he wasn't secretly just a tiny bit afraid that listening to it for too long would worsen his hearing loss so much not even hearing aids would help, he didn't like the idea of writing anything inspired by someone else's music. It wouldn't feel entirely his own. He always liked listening to the rain, but he couldn't make it rain right now, and the sky was steadfastly refusing to rain on its own. Though, looking out the window, he could see there was still quite a bit of snow left over from Christmas...

Well, snow was really just frozen rain, wasn't it? Even if it wasn't actively falling, he could probably go out and stand in it for a while without risking further injury. Actually playing in it was probably out of the question, and would hurt like hell with broken ribs, but it couldn't hurt anything if he just went out and stood in it...maybe took a short walk...besides, if he spent too much time sitting and lying around bored, not only would he go well and truly stir-crazy, he'd go completely stiff after a while...

Going downstairs still unnerved him a little. He clung tightly to the rail with his left hand; if he slipped, he'd have no good way to catch himself, and a long, steep, very painful fall ahead of him. _Be nice if I could just make a portal outside, but not yet..._

_Kingdom Hearts, it's cold out here._ He hastily pulled his hood up, thoroughly mussing his hair. Now that it couldn't come down his neck, the cold started crawling in through the hole where the right sleeve of the robe used to be. _Guess Vexen's still got a hand in the weather pattern or something._

He looked around. The World that Never Was looked surprisingly different under a blanket of snow; almost unrecognizable. It was brighter, for one thing - all this glittering whiteness, such a sharp contrast to the usual dark and dreary setting. And all the sharp angles - all those empty skyscrapers and their endless empty windows - seemed softer, somehow. It wasn't the same as the magical shimmer rain provided, but it was nice all the same. Made everything look a little better. A little more real.

On impulse, he picked up a handful and let it drop from his fingers. It was still dry and powdery, not good snowball material, but it sparkled and shone as it fell in flakes and clumps of flakes. He picked up some more and tried it again, holding it higher so it would have further to fall.

A soft descending chord played itself in his head.

He threw the handful of snow up into the air and watched it swirl. The notes followed. He grinned.

"The hell are you doing out here, you idiot?" Demyx nearly fell over his own feet as he whirled around to face the newcomer. Axel was standing in the snow, looking much less than pleased to be there. Well, cold wasn't Axel's best friend anyway. "In a hurry to freeze? Poking around Vexen's lab would be quicker and easier. And probably more fun."

"Hi, Ax...just got a little bored. Came out here looking for a...breath of fresh air, I guess."

"That, you could have bugged Xaldin for."

"I didn't intend for it to be my last breath, sorry."

"Suit yourself...but you might want to get inside before the boss sees you and decides you are fit to attend meetings."

"Now there's a threat..." Axel turned around and walked back towards the castle. Demyx spent one second taking a last look at the snow, half a second wondering why Axel hadn't just portaled back, and two seconds noticing that the snow near where Axel had been standing was now wetter and stickier - in fact, it was now the perfect consistency for snowballs.

Making the snowball was a little tricky. But he was ambidextrous, so throwing it with his left hand wasn't a problem. "Hey, Axel..."

And the look on Axel's face at the moment of impact was completely worth it. The part about running away before being set on fire didn't have much to recommend it, though.

"You fuckin' sonofa -"

"Aah! Stop! I can't put myself out, remember! You're gonna make me hurt myself -"

"You should have thought about that before you threw the damn snowball..." Demyx had an excellent lead on Axel by now, up until the next snowball connected solidly with the base of his skull. He stumbled and collapsed facefirst in the snow. "Ha! Revenge is mine, jackass!" Demyx didn't move. "Got you good, didn't I?" Still no reaction. "Uh...Demyx? You okay?" The Melodious Nocturne didn't so much as twitch. "Oh, shit...come on, you idiot...wake up..." Nothing. "Oh, shiiit...Demyx, don't fucking scare me like this..."

It wasn't until Axel reached down and gave him a slight shake that Demyx found himself unable to keep from laughing any longer. "Serves you right!"

"Demyx, you fucking jackass!" But Demyx was already back on his feet and running for the safety of the castle. Axel chased him, but he wasn't willing to risk another snowball.

By the time Axel caught up with him again, Demyx was inside, sitting on the lowest stair in front of the door and clutching his injured ribs. "Okay...overall, I'd say that was a bad idea," he groaned, ignoring the snow steadily melting off his boots.

"What, going outside, or -"

Demyx shook his head. "No, just the running part. And the laughing." He took a deep breath. "Adrenaline is a great painkiller, but it wears off in a flash."

Axel rolled his eyes and shook his head. "You should have thought about it before you threw the snowball in the first place..."

"Gonna be thinking about it for a while now, I guess...damn, that is sore."

Axel nodded. "Serves you right...need some help getting back to your room?"

"Yeah, probably..."

Axel opened a portal right next to him. "There you go." Demyx nodded his thanks and dragged himself through the portal.

Once he was safely back in his room, Demyx peeled his boots off as best he could and sprawled on the bed, waiting for the intense ache to fade away. _Okay...shit, that hurts...how did that go again? _ He hummed softly to himself, trying to recapture the music he'd heard while watching the snow fall. _That sounds right...Yeah._ By the time he started recording any of it to paper, the pain was down to a faint shadow lurking in his consciousness._ That's what I was looking for._

It wasn't something he could have explained to Axel and expect the redhead to understand a word of it. But as long as the music kept flowing, all was well. Or at least, everything was better.

* * *

AN: Snowball fight:D

When I started this chapter, I had not the faintest idea what to write. So I wrote about Demyx not having the faintest idea what to write. Then I looked out the window at the snow. However, I did not then go out and play in it and have a snowball fight with my brother, mostly because I'm sick and my brother was at work at the time. I wrote instead. But Demyx and I both found ourselves some inspiration, and that's what counts.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, got it memorized?


	13. More Like Normal

"So, Axel...how was the New Year's party?"

Axel groaned. "Don't even talk about that...and if Zexion offers to sell you any pictures of anything related to the party, see how much munny he wants, tell him you'll think about it, and tell me so I can top his asking price."

That had Roxas's full attention. "What will they be pictures of, you snogging Marluxia?"

"I wasn't that drunk. Kingdom Hearts forbid I ever get that drunk."

"Were you conscious the entire time?"

Axel carefully looked at the ceiling. "...Maybe."

Roxas rolled his eyes. "All right, what happened?"

"Well, first, let's establish that I wasn't the only one making a fool of myself..."

"Oh, great."

"And I swear, what happened in the kitchen wasn't my fault, someone turned a burner on for some reason and Xaldin randomly decided to just whip it up like crazy..."

"You know what? I don't think I want to hear any more...is that marker on your neck?"

"...Maybe."

"What did they write on you?"

"I think it would be better for all involved if I didn't answer that question." Axel turned to the other side. **Demyx, why don't you have your hearing aids on?**

"Because I'm afraid that if I actually heard what you said, I'd start laughing, and that would hurt. But...why are we eating dinner in the Hall of Empty Melodies, again?" Axel groaned, and Demyx smirked broadly. "Or maybe I should just guess - you burned the kitchen, didn't you."

**That was Xaldin...I swear...**

Demyx nodded. "I bet it was. I suppose it's too bad Vexen didn't let me go, otherwise I could have put it out before any major damage was done."

**You couldn't put out a match by blowing on it right now. Besides, remember what happened last year.**

Demyx nodded again. "I do remember. Sort of. I remember seeing pictures, at least. You deserved it."

Roxas poked Axel. "What did happen last year?"

Axel scratched his head. "Well, Demyx doesn't drink much under normal circumstances, and last year Luxord bet me a thousand munny I couldn't get him wasted by midnight. Demyx found out, and he was pissed as hell at both of us, but he agreed to voluntarily drink himself into a stupor in exchange for revenge and half the cash."

"...What was his revenge?"

"At one minute after midnight, he puked all over me, then beat the shit out of Luxord."

Roxas's jaw dropped. "How drunk was he?!"

"The terms of the bet were 'wasted', which term was largely undefined, but I wouldn't have trusted him with anything dangerous at that point. Besides, he's a lot more violent drunk than sober."

"He couldn't get much _less_ violent drunk than sober..."

"Truth. And two days later, he goes out and comes back with this fancy-ass stereo system. Guess that last five hundred munny was all he needed to finally afford it. I spent my cash on the Xbox and games to go with it."

"Can I safely put my hearing aids back on, without laughing myself into a little ball of pain?"

**Go ahead, I think you're safe...** Axel waited while Demyx fished his hearing aids out of his pocket and replaced them. "So how long's it gonna be before you're able to laugh safely?"

Demyx shrugged. "Good question. I'm supposed to see Vexen for more X-rays sometime this week, but I don't think it's going to just stop hurting once the bones are all back together. I think it'll just start hurting less and less."

"Are they supposed to be all healed by now?"

"Not yet, I don't think. Hasn't been long enough."

Axel shook his head. "How do you get yourself into th-" He stopped short, a little too late.

Demyx just stared at him. "With help."

The rest of the meal was spent in an awkward silence.

* * *

"Eventually, Rox, I will stop putting my foot in it every chance I get," Axel promised, as the two of them walked to his room. "Eventually, I will be able to hold a conversation without embarrassing myself." 

Roxas nodded. "You might start by letting your brain engage a little ahead of your mouth. And use the words 'no one' instead of 'nobody', unless you really do mean a Nobody."

"Yes, this is all obvious when you say it after the fact. But when it comes to the crunch..." Axel gestured helplessly. "I keep making a fool of myself. I bet Demyx is going to be angsting for the rest of the day now that I've gone and reminded him of Port Royal."

Roxas raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't long ago you were flipping out at every reminder of the place yourself."

"I'm doing better now...I guess Demyx did go through a lot worse than I did..." Axel unconsciously rubbed his wrists together. "I wanna take a quick shower, see if I can get any of this damn marker off. You might as well go back to your room and I'll catch up with you when I'm done."

"Okay, but first I want to see if I can find whatever happened to that Princess Bride DVD I loaned you months ago. I don't remember ever getting it back."

Axel shrugged. "Suit yourself. If I still have it, it's probably with the rest of my DVDs." He grabbed his bathrobe off the hook and knocked on the bathroom door. Not getting an answer, he walked in and was promptly chased out with a stream of mixed English and Hindi expletives. He slammed the bathroom door shut behind him and held it closed, catching his breath while the shouted curses continued and his face turned as red as his hair.

Roxas just stared. "...So...what just happened?"

Axel took a deep breath. "Rox, one of the hazards of sharing a bathroom with a deaf guy is that you will inevitably walk in on each other. As just demonstrated. And Demyx always takes his hearing aids out to bathe or shower."

"You are just extra slick today. You even got him to swear at you in two languages. I wasn't fully aware he even spoke two languages, if you don't include sign language...which I guess you don't really 'speak'."

"That's his usual reaction. English isn't his first language, but he doesn't use Hindi anymore except to swear at me, I think."

"So he still gets a lot of use out of it."

Axel sighed and rolled his eyes. "This is Demyx, remember."

There was a knock on the bathroom door. Demyx was standing there, still mostly wet, wearing a bathrobe and his hearing aids and still glaring venomously at Axel. "You can have the bathroom now if you want it. You know, just in case you're interested."

"Just one question -" Roxas cut in before there was any violence - "how do you keep your cast and all your bandages dry while you're showering? I'd think Vexen would be ticked if you soaked them off too many times."

In response, Demyx reached into the air and summoned his sitar. It had gone from hundreds of tiny splinters to a dozen large chunks that were already starting to knit themselves back together. "I'm not completely dry anymore."

"...You mean you're starting to get your powers back?"

"Damn straight." Demyx couldn't help but smile - he rarely stayed annoyed for long. "You said my sitar would fix itself before my arm did, didn't you? Looks like it's gonna."

Axel gave him a friendly punch in the shoulder. "Good, 'cause when it's back together, we'll know you're almost back together. And you still owe me a Guitar Hero duel."

"Evening, dudes - sorry if I'm interrupting anything, but the Superior just called an emergency meeting."

Axel, as usual, said the first thing that came to mind. "Goddamnit, Xigbar, have you ever heard of knocking?!"

Xigbar gave him a fake-dumb look. "Nope. Sorry, dude. Doesn't ring any bells. But anyway, the two of you who are obligated to make it should get their butts to the appropriate place in five."

Axel groaned and rolled his eyes. "Demyx, you are so fucking lucky you don't have to come...come on, Rox. Maybe we should throw ourselves off a building just so we can skip this shit."

"...Between meetings and probable doom, I'll go with meetings, thanks."

* * *

AN: Hmm...what might I have planned for Chapter 14? And what might the meeting be about? Is Axel ever going to learn tact? 

That last I can answer. Hell no. Axel and tact are even more foreign to each other than Demyx and violence. Axel doesn't become any more tactful when he's drunk.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, got it memorized?


	14. Introduction

_So how did that go again? _Demyx, now in his pajamas and stretched out on his bed, hummed softly to himself. _Hmm...not sure that was it._ He hummed a slightly different tune. _Ah, there we go. That was it. _ He kept humming it over and over, making sure it was absolutely clear in his mind as he wrote the notes down on paper. _Wonder why the Superior suddenly called a meeting now...I bet there are still a few nursing hangovers...hmm, three repetitions? Four, first pair diminuendo, second pair crescendo - no, other way around, crescendo to diminuendo...yeah, that should sound great...well, Xigbar did say it was an emergency meeting...wonder what the emergency was...wait, maybe eight reps - two sets of four...if it's a real emergency, was it really a good idea to leave me out of the loop? Wouldn't they have ordered me to go, disabled or not?...maybe eight is too many...but then again, I like the pattern it creates...twelve would definitely be too many..._

_Won't be too long before I'll be able to play it for myself, instead of just humming...or turning it over to the Dancer..._He chuckled softly, not enough to cause serious pain, and rearranged himself into a more comfortable position. _All right...the next part..._

It was late, and the soft, gentle melody he'd been working on already had him thoroughly relaxed. He was fast asleep and dreaming over his staff paper by the time Axel opened the bathroom door. "Hey, Demyx...aw, I cannot believe this. He's already conked out for the night. Too bad for him; I guess he'll find out tomorrow. So, Rox, you still up for a round of Dead or Alive?"

* * *

Demyx couldn't help but smile. He didn't think he could have found himself in a more perfect position - his sitar was completely repaired, his arm was out of its cast, his ribs didn't hurt at all, he could hear without his hearing aids, the sky was blue, the sun was shining, the tropical forest was green and lush and perfectly non-threatening, the majestic waterfall somehow didn't drown out his playing or disturb the beautiful lagoon it cascaded into, the rock he was sitting on was amazingly comfortable for being a rock, and there was a crowd of attractive, bikini-clad girls clustered around him, oohing and aahing over the music he was playing. His only real complaint was the heat - living in a world that didn't seem to have a sun, he'd become unused to hot summer days, especially tropical summer days. No matter how much he kept hoping he'd get used to it, the sun kept getting hotter. He would have loved to put his sitar down and dive into the lagoon, but the girls were pressed around so tight - not like he objected - that he barely had room to move. 

It wasn't until a fingernail-sized chuck of hot ash from the volcano suddenly landed in the middle of his forehead that he suddenly woke up with a yelp. "Thought that'd get your attention - you must have been having an awesome dream. You absolutely refused to wake up whatever I did."

Demyx glared at the source of his rude awakening with as close as he ever got to murder in his eyes. "Well, Axel, maybe I was. Maybe I was back at home with my grandmother during one of the few happy parts of my Other's life. Maybe I was on a beautiful tropical island surrounded by hot girls in bikinis. Maybe I was about to dream of a way to get our hearts back tomorrow without waiting for Kingdom Hearts to be completed. Guess you'll never know what it is now." He rubbed his forehead where the "hot ash" had landed - more likely Axel's fingertip. "You bastard...I owe you a flooded room..."

"Ah - consider your debt forgiven. I don't mind if I never collect."

"Oh, Axel, I insist...so what was the huge urgency in waking me up? Is the castle on fire?"

"Don't look at me like that...I just thought you wouldn't want to miss breakfast."

"There's not much you can reasonably expect Xaldin to make for breakfast that's all that exciting...it's not like I'm gonna get a new mission anyway, so I might as well sleep in and make my own breakfast later. Hell, I'm a better cook than Xaldin." Demyx flopped facedown on his pillow and tried to go back to sleep, thinking of sunshine and lagoons and waterfalls and scantily-clad girls who loved music and musicians.

There was a pause. "Curious as to what the emergency meeting last night was about?"

Demyx could have slapped himself - he'd forgotten all about it. "Vaguely," he mumbled into his pillow, feigning disinterest.

"It was about the fourteenth stone in the Proof."

Demyx sat bolt upright for about one second before he curled up around his aching ribs. "A new member?"

"That is kind of what a new stone suggests, isn't it? Next time, try not to hurt yourself." Axel thought for a moment, then smirked. "Hell, it seems like every time you break a bone, we get a new member. I think Luxord's been the only exception so far. For Marluxia, it was your ankle. For Larxene, it was your finger. For Roxas, it was your shoulder. Actually, since you broke a whole bunch of bones this time, we might get several new members."

Demyx groaned. "Give me a break."

"First, I'll wait to see how many new members we get in before you're off the disabled list. That would be an interesting tactic, if Xemnas ever catches on - whenever Demyx breaks something, a Greater Nobody loses its heart. So if we're ever in dire need of new members, we could just kick you off a balcony or send you out back with Saix or something."

"Axel?"

"Yeah?"

"Up yours with a wire brush." Demyx rolled over and pulled the blankets up over his head, leaving Axel to ponder the painful ramifications of that statement.

* * *

"So Demyx wasn't interested?" 

"He seemed more interested in lurid dreams of bikini-clad females than in anything I had to say. He rolled over and went back to sleep."

"Maybe he just wanted to sleep in and cook his own breakfast...Xaldin doesn't have a huge range. I get a little sick of pancakes and scrambled eggs sometimes." Roxas looked sideways at Axel. "Or maybe it had to do with what you said."

"Roxas, I can occasionally open my mouth without putting my foot in it."

"Only when you've opened it to put food in it."

"You're not being very nice."

"Part of my job description involves being cruelly honest when it's in your best interest."

"That may be so, but right now, I think you're picking on me." Axel raised an eyebrow. "Maybe you're just full of it because soon you won't be low man on the totem pole anymore."

"Axel, why would you ever get that impression?"

"I don't know," Axel said airily. "I only spent two weeks there myself, so I don't really remember what it's like..."

"Meaning you have no sympathy whatsoever. Gee, thanks, Ax."

"Soooorryyyy. Maybe I should ask Luxord to go back in time four or five years and ask Demyx's Other to hold off losing his heart until I've been here longer." Axel chuckled. "The rest of them almost thought they were cursed, I bet. Two useless neophytes in a month - I was Mr. Bad Attitude McBacktalk and Demyx couldn't do anything useful in a fight but run away."

"Have you mellowed somewhat since then?"

"Course I have, otherwise someone would have lost all patience and taken my head off long ago."

"Meaning you started out even worse than this."

Axel glared. "I could go back to that, if you'd prefer."

"No thanks, I spend enough time trying to keep you out of trouble."

"If I'm all that bad, why do you bother?"

Roxas grinned and gave him a light shove. "If I were you, I wouldn't question it, big brother. Just because it's fun to give you grief."

"Well, just for that, I won't give you a noogie."

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks, just what I always wanted...anyway, I was wondering, why send Saix and Marluxia after the new girl? Heck, how do we even know it's a girl or where to find her?"

Axel cleared his throat. "Saix knows that. How Saix knows that, I'm not entirely sure and I'd rather not ask. But how many people get sent to find a new member depends on how familiar we are with the world they're in and how dangerous it's expected to be. I recognized the name of the world - Etrylar - and it's the same world Saix and Marluxia are originally from, which is why they sent them instead of any other two."

"I wouldn't have guessed Saix and Marluxia were even from the same world."

"They are, and apparently it's a world full of part-humans and near-humans, so I'm kinda wondering what we're in for. And the Superior sent both Saix and Marluxia because it's not exactly the safest of the worlds."

Roxas drew back slightly in pretend alarm. "You think we might get another Saix?"

"Or another Marluxia, worse yet. Are you going to eat that?"

"Yes." Two envelopes suddenly popped out of the fabric of space and hovered in front of them - one over Axel's coffee, one a quarter-inch above Roxas's pancakes. "Kingdom - how the hell's he get away with that?"

"He's second-in-command and the Superior doesn't care? As long as it didn't land in the syrup, I guess we have no basis for complaint..." Axel opened the envelope closest to him. "...I know where Traverse Town is, but where the hell is Traverse City?"

"I've never heard of it, but I guess I'm going there with you..."

* * *

"Traverse City? Are you sure he's not really talking about Traverse Town?" 

"Orders specifically said 'not to be confused with Traverse Town'. Apparently, no one's that worried about it, if they're only giving us overnight with an evening return to check it out."

"Uh huh." Demyx pretended to be keenly interested, even though he was still occupied with composing music in his head. "Remember to pack your monitor and all that."

There was a pause, and Axel stuck his head through the bathroom door to glare at him. "What do you think I'm doing in here, looking for my toothbrush?"

Demyx wondered for a moment how to answer that. "Yes, exactly!"

Axel sighed. "You're hopeless some days."

"Do I redeem myself on others?"

"Every so often. Not often enough, but occasionally. And the kitchen's free if you want breakfast yet. You know, it baffles me - you and Lexaeus are both better cooks than Xaldin is, but it's still his job. Why doesn't one of you take over?"

Demyx leaned over for a better look into the bathroom, though not far enough to risk falling out of bed. "I can't answer for why Lexaeus doesn't, but how often do you want sushi or ceviche for dinner?"

Pause. "Good point. I guess I'd rather the raw fish stayed off the general menu." There was a knock on Axel's door. "That must be Roxas, wondering why I'm not done packing." Demyx barely heard the door squeak as it opened. "Hi, Rox."

"Aren't you done packing yet?"

"Demyx keeps distracting me. Go keep him distracted while I pack."

Moments later, Roxas appeared in the bathroom door, leaning lazily on the doorframe. "Axel still has problems accepting blame."

Demyx shook his head. "He used to be worse." He hummed softly to himself while Roxas wondered what the hell Axel was talking about, if Demyx would rather lie there and hum instead of talk. "Oh, dammit, I just remembered what I wanted to ask - what's this about the new member we're supposed to be getting? How much do you know?"

"Gender: female; homeworld: same as Saix and Marluxia; weapon: going by the Proof, bow and arrow; estimated time of arrival: no idea; original species: also no idea. Ax, did you do any packing at all before I got here?"

"Dammit, Rox, I'm not a total slacker...give me two more minutes - make that a minute and a half..."

Demyx pouted at Roxas. "Are you in such a hurry to get out of here and stop having to talk to me?"

"We don't have a whole lot of time allotted and I'd rather not be late...the Superior looks at you funny if you come back late..."

"Rox, over time, I've collected every funny, disapproving, disgusted, and murderous look the Superior has to offer. Merely 'funny' looks aren't all that scary."

"Well, I don't want your track record."

"Get out of here...Axel, get him out of here."

* * *

Knock knock. "Dude, you awake?" 

Demyx stretched and stood up slowly. "Guess Axel was wrong; you do know how to knock. I hadn't been, but I am now - need something?"

"Well, you've missed every meal so far today, dude; that's a little worrying."

"Oh, that. I've been borrowing a page from Zexion's book today - not a literal page, he'd tear me apart - and making my own food whenever I get hungry instead of showing up for regular meals. That reassure you at all?"

"Yeah. And, the real reason I'm down here knocking - you wanna meet the new girl?"

"Oh, hell yes..." Demyx hastily opened the door, ignoring Xigbar completely in favor of the short, slim girl next to him. At least she seemed short and slim, though she really wasn't any smaller than Larxene. _Does she really have black-and-green hair?! No, just black hair with green feathers braided into it...feathers? Now that's kind of odd..._

"This is the guy you didn't see at the meeting. He's still in recovery. Demyx, this is Xanrivash. Xanrivash, Demyx."

As she held out her hand, Demyx noticed even more oddities that couldn't be explained by fashion sense, such as the yellow eyes, third eyelids, three-quarter-inch fangs, and neat little claws on her hands. He wondered what exactly her Other had been - besides not human. Well, Xigbar had yellow eyes - or yellow eye - but no fangs, claws, or third eyelids. "Hello -" she hesitated. "Demys."

"It's Demyx."

"I know." She sounded frustrated. "I also know I can't say it."

Xigbar nodded sympathetically. "She has kind of a funny lisp, you may have noticed."

"Is not a lisp, is an assent."

He shrugged. "Well, there you go, dude. She can say 'lisp', she can't say 'accent', so it must be an accent."

"...Well, it's a good thing Axel's not here, then."

She had to try out the name. "Assel...Assel. I see."

Xigbar tried to bite back a laugh. "Okay, so why don't you two spend a few minutes getting acquainted, while we try to get your room fit to live in?" They both nodded distantly, and he disappeared.

Demyx cleared his throat. "So, um, what's your element, if you know yet?"

"Poison." That didn't offer a whole lot of conversational outlets.

They both looked awkwardly at opposite walls. Demyx was really reluctant to start the conversation - he had no idea what subjects might be acceptable and what might be strictly taboo in her society, and she didn't seem eager to talk herself - maybe she was having the same problem. Eventually, she asked about the picture on the wall. "Who is in that picture? I recognize you, but not the others..."

"Ah, those are Axel and Roxas. Axel is the tall redhead. Neither of them are around right now. And, of course, you can't see their faces very well because we're all wearing masks in that picture..."

Xanrivash nodded. "Where were you when that picture was taken, if is all right to ask?" She had a soft, sibilant voice - maybe her Other was something related to both humans and snakes. She certainly walked like she wasn't quite used to legs.

"That was in New Orleans."

"New Orleans..." She tried the name and found it pronounceable. "May I ask why you were there?"

"Go right ahead, but I gotta warn you, it's a very long story."

She nodded. "I'd like to hear it. I love stories."

Demyx shrugged and sat down. "Okay, here goes...originally it was Axel and I who'd been sent to that world...we'd been bickering before we left..."

* * *

AN: And from the story Demyx - and eventually Axel, Roxas, and Zexion - told me came "Whoever Katrina Is". I've kept them hopping ever since. 

(draws line between character Xanrivash and person on computer Anna)

Hi, Anna speaking. The Xanrivash character concept is older than my account, just so y'all know. And there's no way in hell you can get Xanrivash out of Anna. Vanshira (Xanrivash's Other) was a naga - half-snake, half-human, for those who don't know. The Naga!Nobody idea kind of grew out of constant exposure to Merman!Demyx and nagas on deviantArt. So I went, what the hell, make her the unofficial Organization scribe/"real" writer of all my stories. I've used the name Vanshira a lot on the internet, including for RPing in other situations, though never as a naga, so I recycled the name.

The feathers-in-the-hair thing? I don't remember where that came from anymore. It used to be a stronger story point.

I intend to have more fun with my other OC, but mostly with the Trio in his homeworld. He's more likely to become a quasi-regular feature.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, got it memorized? No. XIV, Xanrivash, the Nightshade Stalker, does belong to me.

The story is ended. Flame away.


End file.
